Grain morphology and magnetic properties of CoCrPt/Cr(Si,Ti) films sputtered at room temperature

CoCrPt films were deposited on Cr-Si and Cr-Ti underlayers at room temperature with variations in Si and Ti concentration. Magnetic properties including H-c and S* were improved by Cr-Si and Cr-Ti underlayers. CoCrPt films deposited on a Cr-Si underlayer showed uniformly grown Co grains without large chains of grouped fine grains that were observed for the films deposited on a Cr underlayer, thus resulting in the increased S*. The Cr-Ti films showed changes in crystallography with increasing Ti content and thus affected the growth texture of Co grains. It is suggested that high performance CoCrPt recording media can be fabricated at room temperature by modifying the Cr underlayer films. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.