Study of in-plane magnetic anisotropy in Co-based thin-film media

The relationship among macroscopic in-plane magnetic anisotropy, the crystal structure of both the Co-based magnetic layer and the Cr under-layer, and the surface morphology of the textured substrate was studied. In the highly oriented media, the preferred orientation of the c-axis of Co to the circumferential direction and the distortion of the Cr crystal lattice were observed. In-plane magnetic anisotropy is induced when the grain of the under-layer is smaller than the texture grooves.