In the conventional fabrication of a Co-γ Fe_2O_3/NiO thin film media, at first, a CoO-Fe_2O_4 thin film is sputter-deposited onto a NiO underlayer, and the film is kept in the air for 0.5-2 hours at a temperature of about 300℃ for oxidization. Oxidization mehtod using Oxygen ions in plasma was investigated in this study. Remarkably effective oxidization was achieved by utilizing Oxygen ions in an electron-cyclotron-resonance microwave plasma, promotion of oxygen ion generation by Penning ionization using metastable He atoms, and neutralization for preventing static electricity of samples. The plasma oxidization method shortens the processing time to 10 seconds and lowers the process temperature to 150℃.
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