Microstructure of a Co/Pd multilayered perpendicular recording medium with Pd seeds prepared by electrochemical process

Mutsumi Tanaka, Jun Kawaji, Koji Kimura, Toru Asahi, Takayuki Homma, Satoshi Matsunuma, Tetsuya Osaka*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Effects of the Pd seeds formed by an electrochemical process on the microstructures of Co/Pd multilayered perpendicular recording media were investigated. By immersing a CoZrNb soft magnetic underlayer (SUL) into PdCl2 aqueous solution, island-like Pd clusters were deposited on the SUL, resulting from the electrochemical substitution reaction. Transmission electron microscopic observations revealed that the columnar Co/Pd multilayered grains with clear boundaries grew on the SUL with the Pd clusters. The clear grain boundaries, where the densities of Co and Pd elements were low, were thought to cause the magnetic exchange decoupling between the Co/Pd grains, leading to an increase of perpendicular coercivity and a decrease of magnetic cluster size of Co/Pd multilayered film. Consequently, lower medium noise was obtained for the Co/Pd multilayered medium with the Pd clusters than for that with a sputter-deposited Pd seedlayer. From these investigations, it was clarified that the SUL surface with Pd clusters provided the effective nucleation sites for a well-defined Co/Pd multilayered grain growth.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)188-192
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials
Volume287
Issue numberSPEC. ISS.
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2005 Feb

Keywords

  • Co/Pd multilayered perpendicular recording media
  • Electrochemical process
  • Microstructure
  • Pd seeds

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Condensed Matter Physics

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