Designing magnetics of capped perpendicular media with minor-loop analysis

A novel method of analyzing the switching field distribution (SFD) and magnetic correlation length of perpendicular magnetic recording media that uses major and minor magnetization loops is proposed. By applying the analysis to a series of capped perpendicular media, we found that a thick capping layer with a low saturation magnetization effectively reduced SFD without rapidly increasing the magnetic correlation length. Transmission electron microscope observation suggests that the SFD is narrowed by the increased uniformity of intergranular exchange coupling via the thick capping layer. Evaluations of recording characteristics demonstrated a close correlation between narrower SFDs and improved recording performance. Reducing exchange coupling dispersion is a clear solution for improving the performance of recording media. (C) 2008 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.