Chromium segregation in CoCrTa/Cr and CoCrPt/Cr thin films for longitudinal recording media

Journal Article · Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1998 · IEEE Transactions on Magnetics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/20.706616· OSTI ID:649528

Wittig, J E ^[1]; Nolan, T P ^[2]; Ross, C A ^[3]; Schabes, M E ^[4]; Tang, K ^[5]; Sinclair, R ^[6]; Bentley, J ^[7]

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1. Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States)
2. Komag Inc., San Jose, CA (United States)
3. Massachusetts Inst. of Tech., Cambridge, MA (United States). Dept. of Materials Science
4. IBM Almaden Research Center, San Jose, CA (United States)
5. IBM Storage Systems, San Jose, CA (United States)
6. Stanford Univ., Palo Alto, CA (United States)
7. Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)

Analytical electron microscopy is employed to correlate Cr segregation in Co{sub 84}Cr{sub 12}Ta{sub 4}/Cr and Co{sub 76}Cr{sub 12}Pt{sub 12}/Cr films with specific microstructural features such as grain boundary mis-orientation. Energy-filtered (EFTEM) chemical maps show that Cr segregation occurs independently of the Cr underlayer, and is highly alloy dependent. The CoCrTa film contained extensive grain boundary Cr enrichment whereas EFTEM images from the CoCrPt media show homogeneous Cr distribution. No statistically significant Ta or Pt segregation was observed. EFTEM elemental maps and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) indicate that grain boundary Cr segregation depends on the type of boundary. Quantitative analysis of the Cr levels using nanoprobe EDS shows that the random angle grain boundaries contain more Cr (23 +/{minus}4 at.%) than 90{degree} boundaries (17 +/{minus}4 at.%). EDS and EFTEM composition profiles show Cr enriched grain boundaries surrounded by regions of Cr depletion.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States); Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Inc., TN (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-96OR22464; AC05-76OR00033
• OSTI ID: 649528
• Report Number(s): CONF-980102--
• Journal Information: IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, Journal Name: IEEE Transactions on Magnetics Journal Issue: 4Pt1 Vol. 34; ISSN IEMGAQ; ISSN 0018-9464
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
CHROMIUM
CHROMIUM ALLOYS
COBALT BASE ALLOYS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
LAYERS
MAGNETIC STORAGE DEVICES
MICROSTRUCTURE
PLATINUM ALLOYS
SEGREGATION
SUBSTRATES
TANTALUM ALLOYS