FEAL UNDERLAYERS FOR COCRPT THIN-FILM LONGITUDINAL MEDIA

B2 ordered FeAl films with a small, uniform grain size have been produ ced by rf diode sputter deposition on glass substrates. CoCrPt films g rown on FeAl underlayers were found to have the (<10(1)over bar 0>) la mellar texture. The in-plane coercivities (H-c) of the CoCrPt/FeAl fil ms are comparable to those of the CoCrPt/Cr films and they can be furt her improved by inserting a thin Cr intermediate layer between the CoC rPt and the FeAl layers. By employing a MgO seed layer or a (002) text ured Cr seed layer, (001) textured FeAl can be obtained. However, the (001) FeAl underlayer only induces a weak (<11(2)over bar 0>) textured CoCrPt. Thus no improvement in H-c, over these produced on unseeded F eAl underlayers was observed. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.