Texture evolution in CoCrPtTa/Cr/NiAl magnetic recording media

Crystallographic textures in a CoCrPtTa/Cr/NiAl multilayer magnetic recording media were studied by electron diffraction. It was found that texture quality evolves through the thickness of the films. A large improvement of texture quality was discovered at the interface of the Cr and NiAl layers. Surprisingly, there remains a portion of randomly oriented grains in the CoCrPtTa layer, in addition to the anticipated grains of [10 (1) over bar 0] texture. The texture quality of the CoCrPtTa layer remains similar to that of the underlying Cr layer. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(99)50108-4].