Effects of thin carbon intermediate layer on magnetic and structural properties of perpendicular recording media

CoCrPt/CoCr/carbon films were sputter-deposited on CoTaZr soft-magnetic und erlayers and the effects of a carbon intermediate layer on magnetic and rec ording properties were investigated by changing a heating sequence in sampl e preparations. A heating process before a CoCr deposition was needed to ob tain a high perpendicular coercivity. The carbon diffusion into a CoCr laye r during its deposition led to small crystal grains in the CoCr layer and t hereby the CoCrPt layer. Consequently, a high perpendicular coercivity was obtained, which was considered due to the change in magnetization process f rom a wall motion to a coherent rotation. The use of a thin (1-5 nm) carbon intermediate layer was found to be effective to obtain both low noise and high resolution. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.