Abstract
The soft magnetic properties of NiFe/FeCo/NiFe sandwich films with high saturation magnetization are discussed in relation to the microstructure. Ta/NiFe/FeCo/NiFe/Ta films prepared using the UHV sputtering process show a very sharp fiber texture of bcc-<110> in the FeCo layer. It was revealed that thin NiFe film with a thickness of only 3 nm works effectively as a seed layer of FeCo film to control the microstructure, resulting in a significant reduction of the coercivity. The best thickness of the FeCo layer in order to realize both soft magnetic properties and high saturation magnetization was found to be 〜100 nm. It was fond that [FeCo/NiFe]_4 single pole head using bulk coil showed better overwrite performance than that of CoZrNb head.