Effect of seed layers on the textured growth of Pd/Ru intermediate layers for perpendicular recording media

The effect of several different types of materials on the textured growth of Pd and Ru layers have been investigated for their suitability as seed layers in perpendicular recording media. CrZr, CrMoZr, CrW, CrTi, NiAl and RuAl layers were introduced as seed layers and their effects on perpendicular c-axis growth and the magnetic properties were studied. Lower values of Δθ50 of Pd(1 1 1) and Ru (0 0 .2) peaks and larger values in perpendicular coercivity were observed for samples using CrW as seed layer. By using CrW as seed layer, better oriented growth of Pd (1 1 1) could be observed which in turn leads to better c-axis growth of the CoCrPt–SiO2 magnetic layer. Generally, it was observed that Cr-based alloys lead to better crystallographic growth of the media structure compared to Al-based intermetallic compounds.