Magnetic behavior of amorphous magnetic films with diluted arrays of antidots: induced vs. intrinsic anisotropy

Abstract Arrays of circular and eliptical antidots with interhole distances much larger than hole dimensions have been fabricated by electron beam lithography and plasma etching on amorphous magnetic films with a well defined uniaxial anisotropy. In this diluted regime, each hole can be considered as an isolated inclusion in the homogeneous film. The effect of patterning is a moderate increase in coercivity while the overall magnetic anisotropy is dominated by that of the original film with an additional contribution due to the shape anisotropy of the artificial array.