Title :
Potential of Metallic Glass Thin Films as a Soft Magnetic Underlayer for
FePt-Based Recording Media
Author :
Kaushik, Neelam ; Sharma, Parmanand ; Makino, Akihiro ; Tanaka, Shoji ; Esashi, Masayoshi
Author_Institution :
WPI-Adv. Inst. for Mater. Res., Tohoku Univ., Sendai, Japan
Abstract :
We report on the use of metallic glass (FeHfNbYB) thin film as a soft magnetic underlayer for the fabrication of L10 FePt-based bit patterned recording media (BPM). Preferred oriented phase of L10 (111) FePt is obtained either by depositing it in situ on a heated soft magnetic metallic glass/SiO2/Si or at room temperature (FePt/metallic glass/SiO2/Si) followed by annealing at 400 °C-450 °C for 20 min. Fabrication of recoding bits of size ~2 μm to 20 nm is demonstrated using electron beam lithography. Magnetic measurements on ~500 nm bit patterns show a narrow switching field (SF) distribution with SF of ~3 kOe. The ability to read/write this BPM is demonstrated with a commercial head in perpendicular geometry in a static tester. Results strongly suggest that the soft magnetic metallic glass thin films can solve the problem of writability in high anisotropy L10 FePt-based recording media.
Keywords :
annealing; boron alloys; electron beam lithography; hafnium alloys; iron alloys; magnetic anisotropy; magnetic switching; magnetic thin films; metallic glasses; metallic thin films; niobium alloys; perpendicular magnetic recording; platinum alloys; soft magnetic materials; texture; yttrium alloys; Fe71Hf3Nb4Y2B20-FePt; L10 iron platinum-based bit patterned recording media; SiO2-Si; annealing; commercial head; electron beam lithography; heated soft magnetic metallic glass-silicon dioxide-silicon; high anisotropy; magnetic measurement; metallic glass thin films; narrow switching field distribution; perpendicular geometry; perpendicular magnetic recording; preferred oriented phase; read-write bit patterned media; soft magnetic underlayer; static tester; temperature 293 K to 298 K; temperature 400 degC to 450 degC; time 20 min; writability; Amorphous magnetic materials; Magnetic domains; Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy; Perpendicular magnetic recording; Soft magnetic materials; ${rm L}1_{0}$ FePt; Bit patterned media (BPM); inclined anisotropy media; metallic glass thin film; soft magnetic underlayer (SMUL);
Journal_Title :
Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TMAG.2013.2285307