Effects of SiO(2) content on the nanomechanical properties of CoCrPt-SiO(2) granular films

CoCrPt material is used for perpendicular magnetic recording media due to its high magneto-crystalline anisotropy that brings good thermal stability on the media. The addition of SiO(2) between the CoCrPt grains offers benefits including lower noise and better thermal stability. It has been reported that the SiO(2) content has strong effects on the media’s recording performance such as coercivity, anisotropy and noise. In this work, we focus on studying the effects of the SiO(2) content on the nanomechanical properties of the media which are critical for the head-disk interface reliability. Variations of these properties with SiO(2) content provide guidelines for optimum designs considering both recording and mechanical interface performance.