Curie temperature and pass through flux of CoCr-based target alloys

CoCr-based target alloys with increased Cr content and additions of Pt or Ta are being used more frequently for the sputter deposition of magnetic recording layers. Targets made from such alloys were investigated regarding their microstructure and Pass Through Flux (PTF). Often these targets have Curie Temperatures (T_c) not much above RT, some are in fact paramagnetic. Depending on T_c targets become quite sensitive to changes in composition or operation temperature. The influence of the alloy´s Cr, Pt, and Ta content on T _c and adequate measures to achieve high and stable PTF are discussed