Quantitative Measurements of Segregation In Co-Cr-X Magnetic Recording Media by Energy-Filtered Transmission Electron Microscopy

1998 ◽  
Vol 517 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Bentley ◽  
J.E. Wittig ◽  
T.P. Nolan

AbstractReliable core-loss spectroscopic methods have been developed for mapping elemental segregation in Co-Cr-X magnetic recording media by energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy. Extraction of quantitative compositions at a spatial resolution approaching 1 nm involves sophisticated treatments for diffraction contrast, variations in specimen thickness, and closely-spaced oxygen K and chromium L23 ionization edges. These methods reveal that intergranular chromium levels are ∼25 at.% for random-angle boundaries and ∼15 at.% for 90° boundaries in films of Co84Cr12Ta4 d.c. magnetron sputtered at 250°C.

1999 ◽  
Vol 589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Sinclair ◽  
Dong-Won Park ◽  
Claus Habermeier ◽  
Kai Ma

AbstractThe optimization of disc manufacturing conditions is required to increase the storage capacities of magnetic recording media, which is strongly related to both magnetic properties and microstructural features. Analyzing the microstructure requires transmission electron microscopy (TEM), since the small grain sizes of the media prevent other tools from characterizing them. This paper discusses several fascinating characteristics of TEM in understanding and analyzing the properties of the recording media.


Nano Letters ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 2595-2598 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faraz Hossein-Babaei ◽  
Ai Leen Koh ◽  
Kumar Srinivasan ◽  
Gerardo A. Bertero ◽  
Robert Sinclair

Author(s):  
Alfred Baltz

As part of a program to develop iron particles for next generation recording disk medium, their structural properties were investigated using transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction. Iron particles are a more desirable recording medium than iron oxide, the most widely used material in disk manufacturing, because they offer a higher magnetic output and a higher coercive force. The particles were prepared by a method described elsewhere. Because of their strong magnetic interaction, a method had to be developed to separate the particles on the electron microscope grids.


1999 ◽  
Vol 5 (S2) ◽  
pp. 634-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Bentley ◽  
J.E. Wittig ◽  
T.P. Nolan

Elemental mapping of Co-Cr-X based magnetic recording media at resolutions approaching 1 nm by energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy (EFTEM) can provide quantitative measurements of intergranular Cr segregation for correlation with magnetic properties and materials processing. The thin-film media present many challenges for EFTEM methods, such as diffraction contrast and closelyspaced edges. The goal of this work was to provide robust methods for mapping quantitative compositions in such materials. Results presented here are for a model material of 60 nm of Co84Cr12Ta4 on a 75 nm Cr underlayer; both films were d.c. magnetron sputtered onto a NiP-plated Al substrate pre-heated to 250°C. Other compositions and thinner layers (∼30 nm) have also been studied. EFTEM was performed on back-thinned, plan-view specimens with a Gatan Imaging Filter (GIF) interfaced to a 300 kV LaB6 Philips CM30. Optimized acquisition conditions have been detailed elsewhere. Besides core-loss image series, zero-loss I0 (slit width Δ=10eV), low-loss Ik (Δ=30eV), and unfiltered IT images were recorded, and maps of t/λ. = ln(IT / I0), where t is specimen thickness and λ. is the total inelastic mean free path, were produced.


Author(s):  
L. Tang ◽  
G. Thomas ◽  
M. R. Khan ◽  
S. L. Duan

Cr thin films are often used as underlayers for Co alloy magnetic thin films, such as Co1, CoNi2, and CoNiCr3, for high density longitudinal magnetic recording. It is belived that the role of the Cr underlayer is to control the growth and texture of the Co alloy magnetic thin films, and, then, to increase the in plane coercivity of the films. Although many epitaxial relationship between the Cr underlayer and the magnetic films, such as ﹛1010﹜Co/ {110﹜Cr4, ﹛2110﹜Co/ ﹛001﹜Cr5, ﹛0002﹜Co/﹛110﹜Cr6, have been suggested and appear to be related to the Cr thickness, the texture of the Cr underlayer itself is still not understood very well. In this study, the texture of a 2000 Å thick Cr underlayer on Nip/Al substrate for thin films of (Co75Ni25)1-xTix dc-sputtered with - 200 V substrate bias is investigated by electron microscopy.


Author(s):  
J. Bentley ◽  
E. A. Kenik ◽  
K. Siangchaew ◽  
M. Libera

Quantitative elemental mapping by inner shell core-loss energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with a Gatan Imaging Filter (GIF) interfaced to a Philips CM30 TEM operated with a LaB6 filament at 300 kV has been applied to interfaces in a range of materials. Typically, 15s exposures, slit width Δ = 30 eV, TEM magnifications ∼2000 to 5000×, and probe currents ≥200 nA, were used. Net core-loss maps were produced by AE−r background extrapolation from two pre-edge windows. Zero-loss I0 (Δ ≈ 5 eV) and “total” intensity IT (unfiltered, no slit) images were used to produce maps of t/λ = ln(IT/I0), where λ is the total inelastic mean free path. Core-loss images were corrected for diffraction contrast by normalization with low-loss images recorded with the same slit width, and for changes in thickness by normalization with t/λ, maps. Such corrected images have intensities proportional to the concentration in atoms per unit volume. Jump-ratio images (post-edge divided by pre-edge) were also produced. Spectrum lines across planar interfaces were recorded with TEM illumination by operating the GIF in the spectroscopy mode with an area-selecting slit oriented normal to the energy-dispersion direction. Planar interfaces were oriented normal to the area-selecting slit with a specimen rotation holder.


1998 ◽  
Vol 523 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Mardinly ◽  
David W. Susnitzky

AbstractThe demand for increasingly higher performance semiconductor products has stimulated the semiconductor industry to respond by producing devices with increasingly complex circuitry, more transistors in less space, more layers of metal, dielectric and interconnects, more interfaces, and a manufacturing process with nearly 1,000 steps. As all device features are shrunk in the quest for higher performance, the role of Transmission Electron Microscopy as a characterization tool takes on a continually increasing importance over older, lower-resolution characterization tools, such as SEM. The Ångstrom scale imaging resolution and nanometer scale chemical analysis and diffraction resolution provided by modem TEM's are particularly well suited for solving materials problems encountered during research, development, production engineering, reliability testing, and failure analysis. A critical enabling technology for the application of TEM to semiconductor based products as the feature size shrinks below a quarter micron is advances in specimen preparation. The traditional 1,000Å thick specimen will be unsatisfactory in a growing number of applications. It can be shown using a simple geometrical model, that the thickness of TEM specimens must shrink as the square root of the feature size reduction. Moreover, the center-targeting of these specimens must improve so that the centertargeting error shrinks linearly with the feature size reduction. To meet these challenges, control of the specimen preparation process will require a new generation of polishing and ion milling tools that make use of high resolution imaging to control the ion milling process. In addition, as the TEM specimen thickness shrinks, the thickness of surface amorphization produced must also be reduced. Gallium focused ion beam systems can produce hundreds of Ångstroms of amorphised surface silicon, an amount which can consume an entire thin specimen. This limitation to FIB milling requires a method of removal of amorphised material that leaves no artifact in the remaining material.


2001 ◽  
Vol 203 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Pettinari ◽  
A. Couret ◽  
D. Caillard ◽  
G. Molenat ◽  
N. Clement ◽  
...  

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