In-Plane Crystalline Orientation and Magnetic Anisotropy of Co-Ni-Zr Media

The in-plane crystalline orientation of a longitudinal thin film medium was investigated to clarify the relation between the crystalline orientation and the magnetic anisotropy. As is well known, the anisotropy is induced by deposition onto a moving disk substrate (transport deposition) and is changed by substrate texturing. It has heretofore been difficult to determine the crystalline orientation by X-ray diffraction because of the very intense background reflection. We have developed a precise background correction method enabling measurement of the pole figure of the longitudinal medium. It is clear that the c-axis of a medium on a mirror-polished substrate is essentially oriented in the direction of substrate motion, and that the axis of a medium on a textured substrate tends to be oriented in the texturing direction.