Deposition-temperature dependence of structural anisotropy in amorphous Tb-Fe films

The anisotropic local structure in a series of amorphous Tb₂₆{Fe}₇₄$ films deposited at different deposition temperatures and having different magnetic anisotropy energies have been investigated using polarization-dependent extended x-ray-absorption fine-structure measurements. Samples deposited at temperatures {≥}300 K exhibit anisotropic pair correlations where like atomic pairs are favored in plane and unlike pairs are favored out of plane. Both the anisotropic pair correlations and the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy increase with increasing deposition temperature. In contrast, a sample deposited at 77 K was found to have isotropic pair correlations, low perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, and a large ({}1%) in-plane compression.