TiN intermediate layer development for FePt based HAMR media

One of the most important goals of magnetic recording media research is the continued increase of areal density in order to meet the ever increasing demand for data storage. To this end, L1₀-ordered FePt is seen as a likely candidate to further the areal density of next generation magnetic recording devices by means of continued miniaturizations of magnetic grains whilst delaying the effects of superparamagnetism through its high magnetocrystalline anisotropy. To obtain such L1₀-ordered structure however require FePt to be subjected to high temperatures processes. More current methods involve epitaxial growth of FePt on different underlayers which could effectively reduce the required ordering temperature. Recently, conductive materials with wide fabrication temperature windows such as TiN were proposed as intermediate layers for epitaxial growth of L1₀-ordered FePt. Thus in this work, we explore the effects of different heating conditions and thickness of TiN on textures and magnetic properties of both TiN and FePt.