Investigation into the properties of evaporated Gd-Co films

Dual source evaporated gadolinium-cobalt thin films have been prepared with compositions between 7 and 9 atomic percent cobalt. The magnetization and coercivity versus composition characteristics of these films indicate that the cobalt magnetic moments are antiferromagnetically coupled to the gadolinium moments. The anisotropy mechanisms are found to be shape anisotropy due to columar growths and anisotropy due to directional ordering. A prefered anisotropy direction can be formed in some of these films during fabrication or by annealing. The magnetization structure in some of these films is of a radial nature. A discussion of radially magnetized films is presented. The films are found to be amorphous and non-magnetostrictive Oxidation effects are also studied