Perpendicular magnetic recording disk with template layer formed of nanoparticles embedded in a polymer material

• Main Authors: ZOU HAN, SCHABES MANFRED ERNST, ZHU QING, RUIZ RICARDO, GURNEY BRUCE ALVIN, TAKANO KENTARO, WANG SHI-LING CHANG
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 12.01.2016
• Subjects: INFORMATION STORAGE; INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORDCARRIER AND TRANSDUCER; PHYSICS

A perpendicular magnetic recording disk includes a template layer below a Ru or Ru alloy underlayer, with a granular Co alloy recording layer formed on the underlayer. substrate. The template layer comprises nanoparticles spaced-apart and partially embedded within a polymer material, with the nanoparticles protruding above the surface of the polymer material. A seed layer covers the surface of the polymer material and the protruding nanoparticles and an underlayer of Ru or a Ru alloy covers the seed layer. The protruding nanoparticles serve as the controlled nucleation sites for the Ru or Ru alloy atoms. The nanoparticle-to-nanoparticle distances can be controlled during the formation of the template layer. This enables control of the Co alloy grain diameter distribution as well as grain-to-grain distance distribution.