Magnetron sputtering deposition of [FePt/Ag]n multilayers for perpendicular recording

[FePt/Ag]n, multilayers were deposited on glass substrates by RF magnetron sputtering and ex situ annealed at 550°C for 30 min. The effects of inserted Ag layer thickness and the number of bilayer repetitions (n) on the structure and magnetic properties of the multilayers were investigated. It was found that the difference between in-plane and out-of-plane coercivities varied with an increase of inserted Ag layer thickness in the [FePt 2 nm/Ag x nm]10 multilayers. The ratio of out-of-plane coercivity to in-plane coercivity reached the maximum value with the Ag layer thickness of 5 nm, indicating that the Ag layer thickness plays an important role in obtaining perpendicular orientation. For the [FePt 2 nm/Ag 5 nm]n multilayers, perpendicular orientation is also influenced by n. The maximum value of the ratio of out-of-plane coercivity to in-plane coercivity appeared when n was given as 8. It was found that the [FePt 2 nm/Ag 5 nm]8 had a high perpendicular coercivity of 520 kA/m and a low in-plane one of 88 kA/m, which shows a strong perpendicular anisotropy.