Investigation of CoPt and CoPt + ZrO{sub x} thin films for magnetic storage media using high-resolution analytical electron microscopy

Materials for very high density magnetic storage media, with capacities of 10 Gbits/in{sup 2} and beyond, require high coercivity and high signal to noise ratio. To achieve storage densities of this level engineering of the material to produce very fine, magnetically decoupled domains is necessary. We have characterized the microstructure and microchemistry of 10 nm thick CoPt and CoPt + ZrO{sub x} thin films, as deposited and annealed, using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and nanometer-scale energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS).