Localized electro-thermal processing: a new route to the patterning of magnetic recording media

Previous reports have detailed the fabrication of media able to support high density magnetic recording in both longitudinal and perpendicular formats by the global rapid thermal processing of sputtered non-magnetic precursor films. During processing in this manner a magnetic element is released from its nitride and agglomerates to form a random near mono-dispersion of magnetic nano-particles. Here we explore, primarily through modelling and simulation, the feasibility of processing similarly formulated precursor media not globally but locally. We investigate the potential of using conducting nano-probe tips to produce, via electro-thermal (Joule) heating, a nano-patterned recording medium in the form of regular arrays of magnetic islands in a non-magnetic host. In the first instance we concentrate on the simplest cobalt based precursor medium for which both initial simulation and experimental studies indicate the formation of magnetic islands with dimensions of the order of the tip diameter; this is relatively straightforward. The results signify that if practical production scenarios can be devised to produce technologically significant areas of recording media by the rapid multi-probe repetition of this technique, then processing in this manner offers a promising route to areal recording densities of perhaps 5 Terabit/in(2) even with the simplest cobalt media. We also note that the electro-thermal processing method is potentially extendable to the production of a wide variety of magnetic materials (e.g. PtCo, FeCo, NiFe alloys) and, applied via electrical nano-imprinting type techniques, to the production of a wide variety of patterned structures.