Improvement of magnetic properties and read/write characteristics in SmCo5 perpendicular thin films

Abstract An SmCo 5 alloy is a promising candidate for ultra-high density magnetic recording media because of its strong uniaxial magnetocrystalline anisotropy, whose constant, K u , is more than 1.1×10 8 erg/cm 3 . Recently, we successfully obtained high perpendicular magnetic anisotropy for a sputter-deposited SmCo 5 thin film by introducing a Cu/Ti dual underlayer. However, it is necessary to improve magnetic properties and read/write (R/W) characteristics for applying SmCo 5 thin films to perpendicular magnetic recording media. In this study, we focused on reduction of magnetic domain size and change of a magnetization reversal process of SmCo 5 perpendicular magnetic thin films by introducing carbon (C) atoms into the constituent Cu underlayer. The magnetic domain size became small and the ratio of coercivity ( H c ) against magnetic anisotropy ( H k ) which is an index of the magnetization reversal process was increased by adding C atoms. We also evaluated the R/W characteristics of SmCo 5 double-layered media including C atoms. The medium noise was decreased and signal-to-noise ratio increased by introducing the C. The addition of C into the Cu underlayer is effective for changing the magnetization reversal process, reducing medium noise and increasing SNR.