Effect of Initial Incident Angle on Magnetic Properties of Vacuum Deposited Co-Cr Films

The incident angle dependence of the magnetic properties of vacuum-deposited Co-Cr films was investigated. Using a continuous vacuum deposition system, "continuous films" and "fixed films" were deposited onto polymer substrates in motion and held stationary, respectively, with the incident angle of evaporated atoms varying from 70° (initial) to 40° (final). In fixed films, which were cut into small pieces to perform measurements of regions in angular intervals of 2.5° the hep c-axis dispersion increases and the shape magnetic anisotropy increases with increasing angle of incidence. In continuous films, both magnetocrystalline anisotropy and shape magnetic anisotropy contribute to the magnetic anisotropy. Compared with fixed films, the magnetic properties of continuous films are influenced by the initial film growth region at incident angles above 60°.