Effects of Cu Addition on Bi-Substituted Garnet Film for Magnetooptical Recording

Polycrystalline Bi-substituted iron garnet films with Cu added were prepared on glass substrate by rf diode sputtering followed by annealing. The addition of 3.4 at% Cu was effective both for decreasing the size of crystallites to about 1 μm, and for increasing the coercivity to 5.4 kOe. The shape of statically recorded bits was also improved.