Film growth characterization of an underlayer for perpendicular magnetic recording

This investigation involves a study of the dependence of the crystal texture of sputtered Ni-Fe films on film thickness and the oxygen content of the sputtering gas. X-ray diffraction, analytical transmission electron microscopy, and scanning auger microprobe analysis have been employed to characterize the films. The (111) crystal texture improves with a decrease in the oxygen content of the sputtering gas and an increase in the film thickness. The increase in the oxygen content of micronalysis results show that the films are chemically uniform on a grain basis. The the sputtering gas promotes a multiple set of (111) crystal orientations. The micioagrain size of the films increases with an increase in the film thickness. The microstructure of films with 0.3 μm and 7.4 μm thickness shows the presence of twinned grains which indicates that recrystallization is occurring. The mechanism of the crystal texture development with an increase in the film thickness is discussed.