Magnetic properties of Co35Pd65 films made by oblique-incidence deposition

The structural properties of the Co35Pd65 films, made by oblique-incidence deposition, were discussed from the X-ray rocking curve studies. For the pu rpose of this study, these samples were used again for the stress and the m agnetic hysteresis measurements, respectively. The intrinsic stress of thes e films is tensile and of the order of 10(9)-10(10) dyn/cm(2). In general, if the film thickness t > t(C)congruent to 500-700 Angstrom, the sample exh ibits the characteristics of the out-of-him-plane (or normal) anisotropy. O n the other hand, if t < t(C), the film shape and the dispersion effect in the sample becomes so large that magnetization is almost in-plane. Besides, as t is fixed and t > t(C), the dispersion effect in the alpha = 45 degree s film is larger than that in the alpha = 0 degrees film, where alpha is th e angle of incidence. Three possible mechanisms, i.e. the magnetostatic, th e magnetocrystalline, and the magnetoelastic mechanisms, are proposed to ex plain the magnetic anisotropy phenomena observed in these Co35Pd65 films. F rom model calculations, it is concluded that the last mechanism is the most likely to account for the anisotropy. Finally, based on the magnetocrystal line effect, the variations of the degree of magnetic dispersion, due to th e change of a from 0 to 45 degrees, are discussed briefly. (C) 2000 Elsevie r Science B.V. Al rights reserved.