Epitaxial Ag templates on Si(001) for bicrystal CoCrTa media

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Abstract
Ag thin films were sputter deposited on hydrofluoric acid-etched Si(001) single crystal substrates and employed as templates for the epitaxial growth of Cr(001) films and consequently bicrystal CoCrTa(112̄0) films. The orientation relationship was determined to be bicrystal CoCrTa on Cr(001)[100]‖Ag(001)[110]‖Si(001)[110]. X-ray diffraction analysis showed only strong Ag(002) peaks throughout the Ag film thickness range of 50–1500 Å. Atomic force microscopy showed that almost continuous Ag films can be achieved in the thickness range of 500–1000 Å, which result in the highest coercivities in CoCrTa films whose magnetic properties were found to vary with the Ag template thickness and surface morphology. The periodic in-plane angular variation of magnetic properties and torque curves with a four-fold symmetry were confirmed in the bicrystal CoCrTa films.