The domain wall distortion of magnetically written bits in GdTbFe thin films

The distortion of the bits formed by a magnetic head was studied on GdTbFe films. From read/write tests, it is found that reproduction noise is strongly affected by the film sputtering gas pressure (0.2-0.6 Pa); high Ar pressure causes less reproduction noise. Jitter analysis with a magnetooptical read head indicates that domain-wall distortion decreases as the deposition pressure increases. This distortion amplitude is found to roughly coincide with the distance between iron microcrystallites (about 10 Å to 60 Å in diameter), which are assumed to provide nucleation sites for magnetization reversal