A STUDY OF MAGNETIC SWITCHING CHARACTERISTICS OF MAGNETIC NANOSTRUCTURES FOR BIT PATTERNED MEDIA APPLICATIONS.

Abstract

The magnetic switching characteristics of bit patterned media (BPM) were investigated by both experiment and simulation approaches. BPM samples were prepared by direct deposition of Co/Pd multilayer onto pre-defined SiOx nanopillars patterned by electron beam lithography. High-resolution magnetic force microscopy was used to characterize magnetic reversal of the patterned media at various areal densities. The effect of trench materials was analyzed without any underlying assumption regarding the shape or the magnetic properties of the trench materials. In addition, a novel statistical model was developed to quantitatively determine the strength of the dipole interaction between magnetic nanostructures. Lastly, micromagnetic simulation was deployed to investigate the effect of structural variations on the broadening of the switching field distribution. Our findings highlight the significance of the structural variations in determining the magnetic switching characteristics of bit patterned media.