Critical Parameters of Solution Design for Electrodeposition of 2.4 T CoFe Alloys

The electrodeposition of soft, high magnetic moment alloys has become the critical fabrication step in manufacturing of magnetic recording heads. The need for ultimately high magnetic moment alloys (2.4 T CoFe) and the electrodeposition process capable of delivering magnetic structures with dimension in the range of several tens of nanometers are the new tasks that have to be addressed if the future magnetic recording devices will use the electrodeposited alloys for writing pole application. This complex challenge could be successfully achieved by fully considering the conditions at the electrochemical interface for additive adsorption and incorporation, iron hydroxide formation and incorporation, and by careful design of the bath chemistry and deposition parameters that would yield the high moment alloys with the optimum magnetic properties. In this manuscript, some of the key aspects of successful electrodeposition of 2.4 T CoFe alloys are discussed with experimental results and theoretical foundations indicating future direction for development of electrodeposited high moment alloys and nanostructures.