Magnetic thin films for recording industry

Abstract

Fabrication of magnetic thin films always has a big part in recording industry. The change in electrical
resistance of the thin films in magnetic field, referred to as magnetoresistance (MR), has revolutionized the
read head technology. Anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR), giant magnetoresistance (GMR) and tunneling
magnetoresistance (TMR) have successively been implemented in commercial hard disks. Recently, a new
design of a read head based on magneto-electric effect in ferroic thin film has been proposed. Furthermore,
high capacity hard disk drives using magnetic layers with perpendicular magnetization are commercially available. These magnetic thin films can be prepared by techniques such as sputtering and evaporation. In the
characterization stage, patterns of magnetic domain are visualized by magnetic force microscopy (MFM) and
hysteresis loops are usually obtained by magneto-optic Kerr effect.