Title :
Exchange-coupled IrMn/CoZrNb soft underlayers for perpendicular recording media
Author :
Takenoiri, S. ; Enomoto, K. ; Sakai, Y. ; Watanabe, S.
Author_Institution :
Device Technol. Lab., Fuji Electr. Corp. R&D Ltd., Matsumoto, Japan
fDate :
9/1/2002 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
An antiferromagnetic Ir-Mn pinning layer was applied to reduce the spike noise that originates from domain walls in a Co-Zr-Nb soft magnetic layer of perpendicular recording media. Blocking temperature was 285°C and exchange-coupling energy of 0.22 erg/cm2 was obtained by arranging a Co-Fe layer between Ir-Mn and Co-Zr-Nb films, without any thermal treatments to enhance the exchange-coupling field. Spike noise was successfully reduced over the entire disk area using a rapid thermal annealing process, and the total amount of noise generated from a soft magnetic layer decreased as the exchange bias field increased.
Keywords :
antiferromagnetic materials; cobalt alloys; exchange interactions (electron); ferromagnetic materials; interface magnetism; iridium alloys; magnetic domain walls; magnetic hysteresis; magnetic recording noise; magnetic thin films; manganese alloys; niobium alloys; perpendicular magnetic recording; rapid thermal annealing; soft magnetic materials; sputter deposition; zirconium alloys; 285 degC; Co-Fe layer; Co-Zr-Nb soft magnetic layer; IrMn-CoFe-CoZrNb; M-H loop; antiferromagnetic Ir-Mn pinning layer; blocking temperature; dc magnetron sputtering; disk area; domain walls; exchange bias field; exchange-coupled IrMn/CoZrNb soft underlayers; exchange-coupling energy; perpendicular recording media; rapid thermal annealing process; spike noise reduction; Antiferromagnetic materials; Magnetic domain walls; Magnetic domains; Magnetic noise; Noise generators; Noise reduction; Perpendicular magnetic recording; Rapid thermal processing; Soft magnetic materials; Temperature;
Journal_Title :
Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TMAG.2002.801798
