The magnetic properties of cobalt films produced by glancing angle deposition

The magnetic properties of columnar cobalt films fabricated by glancing ang le deposition were investigated. Varying the azimuthal rotation speed and p olar angle of incidence of the vapor flux produces films with different mic rostructures, The magnetic anisotropies and squareness ratio between perpen dicular and in-plane hysteresis loops are measured for various films and fo und to have a weak dependence on the azimuthal rotation speed of the substr ate at the polar angle of 75 degrees, The squareness ratio is strongly affe cted by the variation of the polar angle of incidence of the vapor flux, At an azimuthal rotation speed of 0.092 rev/s and polar angle of 83 degrees, the Co film is composed of well-separated columns with the packing fraction of 0.3. The hysteresis loops of this film exhibit a perpendicular anisotro py with the squarness ratio of 1.6. The X-ray diffraction spectrum shows th at the Co columns possess a strong (2112) preferred orientation, which indi cates that the perpendicular anisotropy is from shape anisotropy and not fr om crystalline anisotropy.