Effects of SiO₂ content on the nanomechanical properties of CoCrPt-SiO₂ granular films

CoCrPt material is used for perpendicular magnetic recording media due to its high magneto-crystalline anisotropy that brings good thermal stability on the media. The addition of SiO₂ between the CoCrPt grains offers benefits including lower noise and better thermal stability. It has been reported that the SiO₂ content has strong effects on the media's recording performance such as coercivity, anisotropy and noise. In this work, we focus on studying the effects of the SiO₂ content on the nanomechanical properties of the media which are critical for the head-disk interface reliability. Variations of these properties with SiO₂ content provide guidelines for optimum designs considering both recording and mechanical interface performance.