Structural and magnetic properties of evaporated Co/Si(100) and Co/glass thin films

A series of Co thin films have been evaporated onto Si(100) and glass substrates. The Co thickness, t Co , ranges from 50 to 195 nm. The structural and magnetic properties have been investigated by x-ray diffraction, hysteresis curves, Brillouin light scattering and magnetic force microscopy (MFM) techniques. The Co thin films are found to be polycrystalline with (0001) texture. There is an increase of the grain size with increasing film thickness. The coercive fields range from values as low as 2 Oe in thinner films to the highest values, 2500 Oe, in 195 nm thick Co/Si films. The magnetocrystalline anisotropy field H a decreases as the thickness increases; surface and stress induced anisotropies seem to contribute to the value of H a . MFM images reveal a well-defined stripe pattern for thicker Co/Si samples. Such domains are not observed in the case of the thinner films. These so-called weak-stripe domains appear in magnetic films with a low or intermediate perpendicular anisotropy. Similar behaviour was observed in Co/glass samples, in addition, cross-tie walls were seen in thinner ones.