STRUCTURAL AND MAGNETIC STUDY OF SUBMICRONIC SINGLE-CRYSTAL COBALT BOX ARRAYS

We present a study of magnetic dot arrays fabricated in Ru(5 nm)/Co/Ru (32 nm) films with cobalt thickness varying from 10 to 500 nm. Large a rray areas up to 5 x 5 mm(2) have been obtained with lateral dot size and spacing of 0.5 mu m. The magnetization curves are characteristic o f a perpendicular magnetized multidomain structure. Lateral size reduc tion does not drastically change the domain structure but has immediat e consequences on the nucleation and saturation fields. A magnetic for ce microscopy study confirms the perpendicular multidomain structure a nd provides intrinsic magnetic characteristics. (C) 1996 American Inst itute of Physics.