A MAGNETIC EVALUATION OF INTERACTION AND NOISE CHARACTERISTICS OF CONICR THIN-FILMS

The nature of media recording noise in metallic, quasiparticulate thin films is principally related to the grain size, crystallographic orientation, and intergranular exchange and magnetostatic coupling in the films. In this study the results of a magnetic evaluation of magnetostatic interactions in CoNiCr thin films of varying Cr underlayer thickness are reported. The evaluation is undertaken through the measurement and comparison of remanence curves. The results presented here indicate enhanced cooperative switching as Cr underlayer thickness is reduced from 2000 to 100 angstrom, with a strong correlation between signal-to-noise measurements. In addition, the transition from principally exchange-coupled to quasiparticulate thin films, as Cr underlayer thickness increases, has been established.