In addition to grain size and distribution, compositional segregation of non-magnetic materials was also studied. A series of CoCrPtTa, CoCrPtB 5, and CoCrPtB8 thin film longitudinal media were prepared under ostensibly identical sputtering conditions. High resolution TEM revealed that adding 5% or 8% boron to the magnetic layer resulted in significantly reduced average grain size compared to the media with a CoCrPtTa magnetic layer. It was also found that by adding boron, SNR and media noise properties were improved. While not affecting the lattice mismatch between the underlayer and the magnetic layer, the presence of B was found to enhance Cr segregation to cores as well as grain boundaries.

Application-oriented book on magnetic recording, focussing on the underlying physical mechanisms that play crucial roles in medium and transducer development for high areal density disk drives.

This volume contains the papers presented at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on "Magnetism and Structure in Systems of Reduced Dimension", held at l'Institut d'Etudes Scientifiques de Cargese - U.M.S. - C.N.R.S. - Universite de Corte Universite de Nice Sophia - Antipolis during June 15-19, 1992. The ordering of papers in the volume reflects the sequence of papers presented at the workshop. The aim was not to segregate the papers into rigidly defmed areas but to group the papers into small clusters, each cluster having a common theme. In this way the parallel, rather than serial, development of areas such as preparation of films, magnetic and structural characterization was highlighted. Indeed the success of the field depends on such parallel development and is assisted by workshops of this nature and the international collaborations which they foster. The organizers and participants of the NATO workshop express their thanks to Mme. Marie-France Hanseier and the staff at l'Institut d'Etudes Scientifiques de Cargese U.M.S. - C.N.R.S. - Universite de Corte - Universite de Nice Sophia - Antipolis for making the workshop and local arrangements a memorable success. Warm thanks are also expressed to Varadachari Sadagopan and Pascal Stefanou for their encouragement and help in making the workshop a reality. We are also grateful to Kristl Hathaway, Larry Cooper and Gary Prinz for advice in developing the workshop program.

This book is a comprehensive text on the theory of the magnetic recording process.