Materials Processing for High Anisotropy Granular Media

For vapor deposited FePt to be realized as a magnetic recording medium, a basic understanding of the fundamental materials processes in chemical ordering and their interactions with sputter deposition is required. For such applications, a magnetically decoupled nanostructure is necessary as used for longitudinal and perpendicular schemes. The elevated temperatures required for FePt chemical ordering is a major paradigm shift from conventional fabrication. With an understanding of the role of individual materials processes involved with chemical ordering, their implications on physical vapor deposition or other manufacturing systems can be addressed. The feasibility of such processing is shown here with examples of FePt carbon and FeCuPt SiO deposited at elevated temperature.