Fe-Pt-MgO stacked films for perpendicular magnetic recording

Fe-Pt-MgO stacked storage layer constructed by [Fe-Pt/Fe-Pt-MgO/Fe-Pt] trilayered structure was proposed for a next-generation high-density perpendicular magnetic recording medium. The Fe-Pt-MgO composite middle layer was prepared by sputtering the Fe-Pt-MgO composite-type target including relatively large MgO content of 50 vol%. The Fe-Pt(0 0 1) seed layer deposited on MgO underlayer was effective in forming the ordered fct(0 0 1) phase for the Fe-Pt-MgO composite film. The reduction of transition jitter noise and the suppression of signal overlap were observed in the stacked-type medium with the Fe-Pt-MgO middle layer of 1 nm thickness. The improvement of recording properties is attributed to the pinning effect of magnetic domain wall by the Fe-Pt-MgO composite layer inserted into the middle of pure Fe-Pt storage layer.