Improved Grain Isolation in [Co/Pd]n Multilayer Media for Thermally Assisted Magnetic Recording

The effect of the magnetic and structural properties on recording performance was investigated. Well grain-isolated media were obtained by adding boron and oxygen into the [Co/Pd](n) multilayer and cooling the substrate. We found that the recorded bit size could be decreased by reducing the magnetic cluster size. Twenty-five-nm bits were successfully recorded on the improved media with a magnetic cluster size of about 30 nm.