Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 May 2007
Microstructural and magnetic properties of 14N+ irradiated Co/Pd multilayers, deposited on ultra-flat large (2.5 in) glass substrates by a special hard disk industrial manufacturing system, are discussed. Upon irradiation with 14N+ ions at different energies (20–30 keV) and doses (1014–1015 ions/cm2), both the coercive and nucleation fields were found to change with respect to as deposited multilayer. Results indicate that the irradiation process leads to a lowering of the magnetic anisotropy due to the induced disorder and degradation of the interface quality: for an energy of 30 keV, at an irradiation level of 1015 ions/cm2, H c reduces from H c ≈ 5.4 kOe for the as deposited multilayer down to 300 Oe, being the easy axis still perpendicular to the multilayer plane; at the highest dose (1016 ions/cm2), the coercivity vanishes and the perpendicular anisotropy is suppressed.