Growth structure of thin films for perpendicular magnetic recording media

Thin film systems composed of Co-Cr-Nb-Pt, Ti, Co-Zr-Nb, Co-Cr and permalloy layers have been deposited onto glass substrates in order to investigate the correlation between the magnetic behaviour and microstructure. The grains of the Co-Cr-Nb-Pt films show oriented growth on the permalloy grains, whereas their growth is started by the formation of an amorphous layer on a Ti layer. A better magnetic performance was observed when Ti or Zr containing intermadiate layers were applied between the permalloy and Co-Cr-Nb-Pt film.