Fe–Pt–MgO stacked films for perpendicular magnetic recording

Abstract Fe–Pt–MgO stacked storage layer constructed by [Fe–Pt/Fe–Pt–MgO/Fe–Pt] trilayered structure was proposed for a next-generation high-density perpendicular magnetic recording medium. The Fe–Pt–MgO composite middle layer was prepared by sputtering the Fe–Pt–MgO composite-type target including relatively large MgO content of 50 vol%. The Fe–Pt(0 0 1) seed layer deposited on MgO underlayer was effective in forming the ordered fct(0 0 1) phase for the Fe–Pt–MgO composite film. The reduction of transition jitter noise and the suppression of signal overlap were observed in the stacked-type medium with the Fe–Pt–MgO middle layer of 1 nm thickness. The improvement of recording properties is attributed to the pinning effect of magnetic domain wall by the Fe–Pt–MgO composite layer inserted into the middle of pure Fe–Pt storage layer.