Low-noise CoCrPtO perpendicular media with improved resolution

CoCrPtO perpendicular media with coercivities greater than 6000 Oe, M/sub r//M/sub s/ equal to 1.0, and negative nucleation fields exceeding 3000 Oe were produced. The crystallographic, magnetic, and recording properties were optimized with respect to Ru interlayer and CoTaZr soft-underlayer thicknesses. Media with exchange decoupled magnetic grains as small as 7 nm with a narrow size distribution capable of supporting a linear density up to 720 kfci were produced. Thermal decay measured at 50 kfci at ambient temperature was less than 0.1%.