Abstract
A Co/Pt patterned medium was fabricated by an Ar ion etching process through a self-assembled polymer mask with a diameter of 40nm, and its etching damage was investigated by using the grazing incidence x-ray reflectivity (GIXR) technique. This method is effective for investigating the changes in the morphology of surface and interface. It was found that the surface roughness was increased from 0.5nm to 3.8nm by the etching process, while the roughness of the multilayer structure was not changed. Large roughness at the surface is due to the lack of a dot structure as a result of the over-etching condition. The lack of significant damage to the internal multilayer structure is consistent with the lack of significant degradation in the magnetic characteristics. Ar ion etching is found to be robust for fabricating patterned medium with little damage even in the over-etching condition.
