Magnetic analysis of columnar grain structure of obliquely deposited cobalt films

Abstract

Abstract In order to analyse quantitatively the columnar grain structure in obliquely deposited cobalt films two anisotropy fields H k (1) and H k (2), which originate from the shape anisotropy of columnar grains, were extracted from the total magnetic anisotropy. The cobalt films were vapor deposited at an incidence angle of 60° onto glass substrates kept at 213 K. The pressure during deposition was 4.0 × 10 -3 Pa. On the basis of the model that the film is composed of rectangular parallelepiped crystallites the columnar grain structure has been analysed using extracted H k (1) and H k (2), and its formation mechanism is discussed.