THERMAL-STABILITY OF ULTRA-THIN CO RECORDING MEDIA

Ultra-thin Co/Cr films were fabricated by RF diode sputtering. The hig hly exchange coupled Co grains were successfully isolated by post depo sition processing. The microstructure was studied with TEM and a very small physical grain size was observed. The measurement of Delta M cur ves showed that the grain to grain interaction changed from positive t o negative. Time dependent magnetic measurements showed significant th ermal decay effects. It was also found that the use of CrMn underlayer s instead of pure Cr further isolated the Co grains.