Head-to-SUL Spacing Reduction With a Magnetic Seed Layer and the Effect on Perpendicular Recording Characteristics

A new underlayer structure consisting of a magnetic seed was used to reduce the recording layer-to-soft magnetic underlayer (RTS) spacing and its effect on perpendicular recording characteristics was investigated. The RTS spacing is reduced by partially replacing the non-magnetic FCC NiW alloy layer with a magnetic CoNiFe layer that acts as a part of the underlying SUL through magnetic exchange coupling. Magnetic CoNiFe layer promotes predominant FCC (111) planes of NiW layer that enhances epitaxial growth of the subsequent Cr BCC (110), Ru and Co HCP (0002) layers. As a result of improved crystallography with magnetic seed, the Co (0002) c axis dispersion is reduced at lower RTS spacing. The head write-ability becomes stronger at lower RTS spacing and the influence of side fringing fields on the nearest adjacent track erasure is highly dependent on the write head type at different RTS spacing. In addition, the change in RTS spacing also affects the read-back response. The signal-to-media noise (SNRm) is improved at low linear densities regardless of RTS spacing but degrades at higher linear densities when RTS spacing becomes too low. It is important to optimize the RTS spacing and the head-to-media integration to improve overall system performance.