Investigation of fabrication and hetero-epitaxy relationship of CoCrPt thin films grown on CrW underlayer

This paper reports that longitudinally oriented CoCrPt thin films with Cr85W15 underlayer and CoCr intermediate layer for use of giant magnetoresistance heads were fabricated by magnetron sputtering. Without CoCr intermediate layer, CoCrPt layer deposited directly on Cr85W15 underlayer which has a dominant (200) texture exhibits unexpected (101-bar 1) texture. After introducing CoCr intermediate layer, the CoCrPt layer shifts into (112-bar 0) texture. This article studies the crystallographic hetero-epitaxy relationship between magnetic layer and underlayer in order to understand the appearance of CoCrPt (101-bar 1) texture on (200) textured Cr underlayer and the influence of CoCr intermediate layer on the inducement of CoCrPt (112-bar 0) texture. The CoCr intermediate layer plays a crucial role in controlling the microstructure and consequently the magnetic properties of the overlying magnetic layer. (condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties)