Control of the compositionally separated microstructure of Co-Cr films prepared by electron cyclotron resonance plasma sputtering

Compositional separation (CS) has been observed to occur in Co-Cr based alloy thin films. This CS produces fine Co-enriched regions within grains, which are expected to give a magnetic microstructure suitable for high density recording. We studied the compositional microstructure in Co-Cr films grown by electron cyclotron resonance plasma (ECR) sputtering to reduce media noise. ECR sputtering produced fine grains which caused particularly small and closely packed magnetic microstructure. The media noise measurement suggested that the grain growth which caused degrading of magnetic isolation should be suppressed to reduce media noise.