Microstructure and magnetic properties of Ti/CoCrPt/Ti pseudo-sandwich nanogranular films

We prepared Ti/CoCrPt/Ti pseudo-sandwich granular films by radio-frequency and dc magnetron sputtering onto glass substrates and subsequent in situ annealing. We investigated the microstructure and magnetic properties of the films as a function of Ti overlayer thickness (x). X-ray diffraction profiles show that the CoCrPt magnetic layers are formed as the hexagonal close-packed (HCP) structure. Vibrating sample magnetometer measurements indicate that the out-of-plane coercivity reaches the maximum 1675.5 Oe when x=5 nm. Atomic force microscopy images show the minimum average grain size D=7.2 nm and the average roughness R/sub a/=1.0 nm. Magnetic force microscopy images show that the minimum average magnetic cluster size is about 6.4 nm at x=5 nm.