Long-range order and short-range order study on CoCrPt/Ti films by synchrotron x-ray scattering and extended x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy

The long-range order (LRO) and short-range order (SRO) of CoCrPt/Ti/NiP perpendicular media films were studied by synchrotron x-ray scattering and extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy in order to correlate their effects with the magnetic properties. The thickness of the magnetic media films and the NiP seed layers were kept constant, whereas the Ti underlayer thickness was varied. The increase of out-of-plane coercivity and squareness was related to the increase in the crystallinity and texture of CoCrPt (002), which first increased and then decreased with increasing Ti thickness. The best magnetic properties were observed for the magnetic film grown on the 30 nm Ti underlayer. The improvement was associated with the local atomic environment in which a relatively ordered Co, and disordered Cr and Pt existed. This suggests that a higher degree of Co and Cr phase segregation contributed to the enhancement of the magnetic properties. The LRO and SRO results are consistent with the magnetic properties.