MAGNETIC FORCE MICROSCOPY (MFM) STUDIES OF MICROMAGNETIC STRUCTURES OF HIGH COERCIVITY COCRPT CR AND COCRPTB/CR THIN-FILMS/

The magnetic microstructures of high coercivity CoCrPt/Cr and CoCrPtB/ Cr films were investigated using magnetic force microscopy (MFM). Expe riments show that the MFM technique can be used for both qualitative a nd quantitative description of the magnetic microstructure of high coe rcivity films for magnetic recording media. It was found that the magn etic microstructure was more refined for films with higher coercivity. The roughness of the magnetic images tend to decrease with increasing coercivity and decreasing media noise. Magnetic images obtained for f ilms with ac-erased state consisted of rounded, symmetric features ind icating presence of magnetic vortices. Images from samples in remanent coercivity state showed elongated transitions between regions with di fferent magnetization direction.