Multilayered Co-Cr films with non-magnetic intermediate layers by FTS system

Multilayered Co-Cr films with non-magnetic intermediate layers have been successfully prepared aiming for the formation of the Co-Cr film with uniform microstructure throughout the whole thickness of the film. The films were prepared on glass, Si wafer, and polyimide substrates by sputtering 21at%Cr-Co alloy targets using Facing Targets Sputtering (FTS) system. It has been confirmed that Co-Cr 2000-Å-thick multilayered films with carbon intermediate layers are composed of fine spherical Co-Cr particles and are uniform throughout the whole thickness of the film. The c-axes of hcp crystallites in each Co-Cr 200-Å-thick layer in the film are well oriented resulting in a strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy as a whole when the thickness of the intermediate layers is 50 ∼ 100 Å. This result implies that such control of the microstructure in the Co-Cr films may be useful for preparing suitable media for ultra high density perpendicular magnetic recording.