Effect of a Cr interlayer on properties of CoCrTa/Cr media: Experiments and simulations

Abstract

An experimental result and a micromagnetics model of a double layered CoCrTa film separated by thin flash Cr interlayer are described. In the experiment, coercivity and coercivity squareness drastically changed with increasing the Cr interlayer thickness. There was some coercivity increase in the double layered films compared to a single layered film when the flash Cr interlayer thickness was around 8 Angstrom to 10 Angstrom and coercivity decreased with further increase of the Cr interlayer thickness up to 50 Angstrom. At a very thin interlayer range, the change of coercivity is affected mainly by the change of exchange interaction. By using the assumption of the formation of a Cr island type interlayer at a thin interlayer region, we can explain the increment of coercivity at the initial state.