Magnetic and Recording Properties of (CoCrPt)1−x (SiO 2)x Media

In this work, we report on the determination of the optimum level of SiO₂ in (CoCrPt)_1-x (SiO₂)_x perpendicular recording media. We have determined the optimum level via studies of magnetic viscosity which have been compared to recording properties. We find that the optimum level of SiO₂ is of the order of 10%. At this level, studies of the activation volume of reversal show that the grains become essentially exchange decoupled and that a further increase in the level of SiO₂ produces no further improvement in the decoupling. We also find that this level of SiO₂ corresponds to optimum recording performance and that increasing the level of SiO₂ further results in the production of a system with smaller grains where thermal loss is observed to increase dramatically