NMR Study on Compositional Inhomogeneity in Electroless-Deposited CoNiP Films for Perpendicular Magnetic Recording

Compositional inhomogeneity in electroless-deposited CoNiP films with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy was examined using the spin echo 59Co-NMR technique for the first time. The existence of a Co-rich component was observed which was thought to cause the formation of an hcp structure and produce high perpendicular coercivity, Hc(⊥). An increment in the Co-rich component by heat-treatment was also observed which might be an origin of the increase in Hc(⊥).