Surface morphology and magnetic anisotropy of obliquely deposited Co/Si(111) films.

We report an investigation on magnetic anisotropy of Co/Si(111) films deposited at oblique incidence. An in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy (UMA) with the easy axis perpendicular to the incident flux plane was observed to superimpose on sixfold magnetocrystalline anisotropy of Co films. We built a total energy model to investigate the magnetization reversal mechanism around hard axis. The simulated value of UMA is K_u=1.7×10⁵ erg/cm³, which is consistent with K_shape=1.1×10⁵ erg/cm³ calculated from scanning tunneling microscope image. This good agreement suggests the in-plane UMA is mainly originated from the shape of the oblique deposited Co stripes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]