Obliquely sputtered Co/Cr thin film tape for bidirectional recording

Abstract

We report the growth and properties of a thin film tape, which can be equivalently recorded in both directions. The experimental tape consists of a 20 nm thick Co layer grown on top of a Cr underlayer ͑120 nm͒. The two layers were consecutively sputtered at incident angle of 70°at room temperature onto a rotating drum covered with a polymer substrate. In such growth geometry the running direction of drum is perpendicular to the incidence plane of arriving atoms. As a result of this configuration, a medium with a good orientation of the easy axis along the recording direction as well as a high coercivity of 180 kA/m has been prepared. Recording measurements have been carried out and illustrate the bidirectional recording behavior of this experimental tape, which seems to be very promising for high-density tape recording.

NiAl Seed Layer for Obliquely Sputtered Thin-Film Tape

“…The details of our dc sputtering configuration are described elsewhere [2]. In this work, a third sputter gun was added, allowing the production of sputtered tape with three different layers.…”

“…In a previous work, we have reported the process to obtain sputtered tapes consisting of 20-nm Co film with a Cr underlayer of 180 nm. Advanced properties like high coercivity of 180 kA/m and bidirectional recording capability were reached [2]. However, the grain size of the magnetic particles was still relatively large, and the film roughness is still high.…”

Growth of oblique sputtered Co and CoCrPt thin films for high-density tape recording

“…However, it is shown that Co and Co alloys directly sputtered onto polymer substrates possess only a moderate anisotropy which is originated from the shape anisotropy of the columns [2]. In previous work, we have shown that an introduction of a proper underlayer can rapidly increase the anisotropy of the films due to the promotion of the HCP structure [3]. In this paper, we compare the properties of obliquely sputtered Co/Cr and CoCrPt/CoCrMn films.…”

Investigation of magnetic anisotropy and role of underlayer in obliquely sputtered metallic thin films

“…Thin films grown by oblique deposition are of significant interest for fundamental and applied research [1][2][3][4]. The morphology of such films consists of columnar type structure.…”