Film Thickness Dependence of Coercivity in Obliquely Vacuum Deposited Co-Cr Films

The film thickness dependence of the coercivity in obliquely vacuum-deposited Co-Cr films and Co films was studied. A coercivity of 80 kA/m was obtained for Co-Cr films obliquely deposited at a substrate temperature of 80°C. The coercivity of obliquely deposited Co-Cr films was larger than the values of obliquely deposited Co films and normally deposited Co-Cr films. The high coercivity of obliquely deposited Co-Cr films seems to be induced by both the self-shadowing effect and by segregation of Cr at grain boundaries. We estimate that about 1/3 of the Cr atoms in the film samples were segregated.