Quantitative MFM study of the global and local magnetic roughness of the DC-demagnetized state of thin film media

A magnetic height-height correlation function was used to quantitatively analyze the magnetic force microscope (MFM) images of the DC-demagnetized state of two thin film media. This function provided important information about the micromagnetic features of these media, including the global magnetic roughness, the local magnetic roughness, the strength of long-range magnetostatic interaction, and the degree of local intergranular exchange coupling. These features are accountable for the noise performance of these media detected by the recording head.