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Annealing Study of (Co/Pd)N Magnetic Multilayers for Applications In Bit-Patterned Magnetic Recording Media

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

E. Chunsheng ,
James Rantschler ,
Shishan Zhang ,
T. Randall Lee ,
Darren Smith ,
Dieter Weller ,
Sakhrat Khizroev  and
Dmitri Litvinov
E. Chunsheng
Affiliation:
[email protected], University of Houston, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Houston, TX, 77204, United States
James Rantschler
Affiliation:
[email protected], University of Houston, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Houston, TX, 77204, United States
Shishan Zhang
Affiliation:
[email protected], University of Houston, Chemistry, Houston, TX, 77204, United States
T. Randall Lee
Affiliation:
[email protected], University of Houston, Chemistry, Houston, TX, 77204, United States
Darren Smith
Affiliation:
[email protected], University of Houston, Materials Engineering, Houston, TX, 77204, United States
Dieter Weller
Affiliation:
[email protected], Seagate, Fremont, TX, 94538, United States
Sakhrat Khizroev
Affiliation:
[email protected], University of California - Riverside, Electrical Engineering, Riverside, CA, 92521, United States
Dmitri Litvinov
Affiliation:
[email protected], University of Houston, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Houston, TX, 77204, United States
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Abstract

This work presents an annealing study of high-anisotropy (Co/Pd)N magnetic multilayers designed for bit-patterned medium recording applications. Magnetic multilayers were deposited by magnetron sputtering at 2.5mT argon pressure at room temperature and annealed at different temperatures (up to 250 °C) for up to 2 hours in atmosphere and in vacuum. Depending on the annealing time, the samples annealed in atmosphere exhibited two distinct modes of magnetization reversal. In samples annealed for a time shorter than some critical time, tc, where tc is a function of the annealing temperature, the magnetization reversal occurs by domain wall injection and propagation. In samples annealed for times longer then tc, the magnetization reversal mode switches to magnetization rotation. Using XPS, it is found that the transition is accompanied by the formation of oxidizes at the grain boundaries leading to exchange decoupling of the grains. In samples annealed at higher temperatures, the increases of the coercivity of as high as 30 times the coercivity of as prepared samples are observed. Significantly, annealing in vacuum showed only small modification of magnetic properties as manifested by relatively minor modifications of vertical M-H loops and unchanged morphology of domain patterns in AC demagnetized state.

Keywords

magnetic propertiesannealingmagnetic
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 961: Symposium O – Nanostructured and Patterned Materials for Information Storage , 2006 , 0961-O01-06
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2007

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References

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