A cross-section TEM study of the microstructural evolution of CoPtCr/Cr thin films and the effect on magnetic properties

The authors study the mechanism underlying the dependence of magnetic properties on Cr underlayer thickness in the CoPtCr/Cr system. A novel procedure was utilized to prepare cross-section transmission electron microscopy (TEM) specimens from actual recording disks to examine the influence of grain size, grain boundary morphology, crystallographic texture, and interfacial structure on the magnetic properties. The changes in crystallographic texture were followed by elongated probe micro-diffraction (EPMD) and selected area diffraction (SAD). Magnetic properties can be explained as a result of the lessened in-plane c-axis orientation, larger grain size, and wider intergranular separation.>