The effects of metallic underlayers on magnetic properties of obliquely sputtered Co thin films

By using oblique sputtering, Co films have been grown on polymer substrate (PET) with and without metallic underlayers such as Cu and Al. The microstructure and magnetic properties have been investigated at large as well as intermediate incident angle of deposition.It was confirmed that the underlayer induces a significant change in microstructure by isolating the nuclei and reducing their sizes. Consequently, the magnetic properties are strongly affected due to the low magnetocrystalline anisotropy (face-centered-cubic Co). Other analyses (deltaM, MFM) support these observations.