L10-ordered FePtAg–C granular thin film for thermally assisted magnetic recording media (invited)

We studied highly L10-ordered FePtAg–C nanogranular film as a potential high-density storage medium in thermally assisted magnetic recording (TAR). A 6.4-nm-thick FePtAg–C film with a perpendicular coercivity of 37 kOe and an average grain size of 6.1±1.8 nm was fabricated on oxidized silicon substrate with a 10 nm MgO interlayer at 450 °C. The time-dependence measurement of remnant coercivity showed the energy barrier of Eb = 7.6 eV ∼300 kBT at room temperature, meaning the excellent thermal stability for long-term data storage. Static tester experiments on this film using a TAR head demonstrate the feasibility of recording at an areal density of ∼450 Gbits/in.².