Imaging of isolated magnetic cluster switching in thin CoCrPt films

Thin film permanent magnet materials are a vital component of magnetic recording read elements. However, local variations in the magnetic microstructure inherent in such devices can have numerous consequences on the magnetic state of the films. In this study, magnetic force microscopy is used to image the domains in thin nanocrystalline CoCrPt films that are part of a patterned read sensor device. The films were imaged before and after being subjected to stress fields of 1000 - 2000 Oe (less than the sheet-film coercivity of the CoCrPt) transverse to the original magnet set direction. Subtraction of the images reveals that the magnetization of isolated magnetic clusters irreversibly rotates in the film. These data show that the mechanism for net moment rotation in such films is not a uniform grain moment rotation. The change in net magnetization occurs in discrete local moment switching similar to Barkhausen jumps, where moments of weakly coupled grains irreversibly rotate at fields that are lower than the bulk coercive field of the film. This technique yields a two-dimensional map of grain moment rotations from which such weak grains can be identified.