High density magnetic recording medium utilizing selective growth of ferromagnetic material

A method of forming a magnetic device, comprising:

• one of seeding a SiO.sub.2 surface with Ti islands having nanometer dimensions, and by exposing nanometer scale areas of Ti on a SiO.sub.2 -based substrate;
• oxidizing said Ti to form TiO.sub.2, thereby forming a template for the selective growth of a ferromagnetic material;
• and
• coating said TiO.sub.2 with said ferromagnetic material.

A method for forming a magnetic device, comprising:

• coating a surface of a substrate with SiO.sub.2 having a thickness greater than about 100 mn in thickness;
• inserting said substrate into a vacuum chamber;
• depositing Ti on said substrate so as to form Ti deposits on the Si surface as isolated islands, a size of each island being approximately equal to a diffusion length of Ti on the SiO.sub.2 surface, and controlled by a surface temperature of the SiO.sub.2 ;
• oxidizing said Ti to form TiO.sub.2 ;
• and
• selectively growing a ferromagnetic material on the TiO.sub.2, thereby to form nanoscale-sized islands on top of the TiO.sub.2.

A method of making a nanostructured film for a magnetic device, comprising:

• depositing a Ti film on a surface of a conducting substrate;
• depositing a silicon layer on top of the Ti layer;
• converting the silicon layer to porous silicon with porous features, wherein said porous silicon stops at the Ti surface, thereby exposing Ti surfaces;
• oxidizing said porous Si and the Ti surface to form SiO.sub.2 and TiO.sub.2 by heating the substrate;
• and
• depositing a ferromagnetic material onto said oxidized silicon and titanium, to form ferromagnetic material islands of nanometer-scale embedded in the SiO.sub.2 porosities by selective area deposition behavior of said ferromagnetic material.

A method of forming a magnetic device, comprising:

• one of seeding a surface with one of Ti, Sn, and Ru islands having nanometer dimensions, and by exposing nanometer scale areas of said one of Ti, Sn, and Ru on a substrate;
• oxidizing said one of Ti, Sn, and Ru to form one of TiO.sub.2, SnO.sub.2, and RuO.sub.2, thereby forming a template for the selective growth of a ferromagnetic material;
• and
• coating said one of TiO.sub.2, SnO.sub.2, and RuO.sub.2, with said ferromagnetic material.

A method of making a nanostructured film for a magnetic device, comprising:

• depositing one of a Ti, Sn, and Ru film on a surface of a conducting substrate;
• depositing a silicon layer on top of the one of the Ti, Sn, and Ru layer;
• converting the silicon layer to porous silicon with porous features, wherein said porous silicon stops at the one of the Ti, Sn, and Ru surface, thereby exposing the one of the Ti, Sn, and Ru surfaces;
• oxidizing said porous Si and the one of the Ti, Sn, and Ru surface to form SiO.sub.2 and one of TiO.sub.2, SnO.sub.2, and RuO.sub.2, by heating the substrate;
• and
• depositing a ferromagnetic material onto said oxidized silicon and said one of TiO.sub.2, SnO.sub.2, and RuO.sub.2, to form ferromagnetic material islands of nanometer-scale embedded in the SiO.sub.2 porosities by selective area deposition behavior of said ferromagnetic material.