Controlling the anisotropy and domain structure with oblique deposition and substrate rotation

Understanding and tailoring of anisotropy in magnetic thin films has been interesting due to its application in data storage devices and magnetoresitive devices. Anisotropy can be induced in a magnetic film by oblique deposition, applying magnetic field during deposition, post annealing (annealing in presence of magnetic field or magnetic annealing) etc. During oblique deposition due to shadow effect columnar structures of grains grow with a tilt towards the deposition angle. However in some applications e.g. in microwave devices and in fundamental studies it is desirable to overcome the anisotropy. One method is to rotate the substrate so that homogenous thickness and isotropic thin film is obtained. In this paper we report the effect of oblique deposition and rotation of substrates on anisotropy as well as on the domain structure.