Co-7% Ir Soft Magnetic Intermediate Layer for Perpendicular Media

The current perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) media uses a non-magnetic dual Ru intermediate layer. Replacing the bottom Ru layer with a Co-7at% Ir soft magnetic crystalline interlayer is expected to enhance both the magnetic field strength and gradient. Fabrication processing parameters were varied to develop the CoIr layer with desired properties (soft magnetic properties, texture, and dome morphology) to be utilized in practical PMR media design. First, the oxide was added to create a magnetically grain-to-grain isolated structure and the well segregated microstructure was obtained. Secondly, CoIr without the oxide was deposited on amorphous Ta and confirmed to have the hcp (00.2) texture and 5 nm Ru on top develops the hcp (00.2) texture epitaxially. The recording layer properties were not deteriorated with the replacement of Ru bottom layer with CoIr. The feasibility of CoIr application in the current PMR media will be discussed based on the experimental results.