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A method of introducing pinning sites in TbFeCo film by the using of focused ion beam was presented. The formed bulges in the film surface by discontinuous scan of light-dose focused ion beam have been proved to enhance the film's coercivity effectively. Coercivity increases almost linearly with the bulge density, giving the evidence of pinning effect contributed from those bulges predicted by domain wall pinning mechanism. Compared with the traditional way of etching the film for adjusting the coercivity, the method presented here shows superiority on reducing magnetic damage to film caused by the focused ion beam irradiation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: TiN thin film is prepared by DC reactive sputtering in Ar+N2 atmosphere and its suitability as underlayer and overlayer for TbFeCo perpendicular recording media as well as its effect on the magnetic properties of the latter have been studied. Only 5nm TiN overlayer and 20nm under layer can successfully protect the TbFeCo film from oxidation. Initially the coercivity is increased sharply from about 2 to 6kOe for an increase of underlayer thickness to 60nm then the increasing rate of coercivity becomes very slow. The saturation magnetization remains almost constant with the underlayer thickness. The remanent squareness ratio remains constant at 1.0 with the underlayer thickness up to 60nm then decreases. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]