Improvement of preferred orientation of NiAl/CrMn underlayers deposited on prebaked tape substrates

Abstract

It was observed that the coercivity of CoCrPt films deposited on a polyimide tape was much lower than the coercivity deposited on a rigid glass substrate under identical conditions. X-ray diffraction showed that the desirable (112) and (110) texture of the NiAl/CrMn underlayers on the tape substrate was severely degraded during the deposition process. This resulted in the destruction of (10.0) growth texture of CoCrPt films and a significant reduction of magnetic coercivity. However, degassing of the tape substrate under vacuum before deposition significantly enhanced the magnetic properties. The coercivity of the film reached 170 kA/m which is near that achieved on a glass substrate. Auger analysis also revealed that oxygen was present in the NiAl/CrMn underlayers deposited without degassing the tape substrate. © 2002 American Institute of Physics.