Nanorods of Co/Pd multilayers fabricated by glancing angle deposition for advanced media

Perpendicular anisotropy magnetic nanorods composed of Co/Pd multilayers have been successfully fabricated by glancing angle deposition (GLAD) in a planetary sputtering system. Co and Pd layer thickness, ratio, and bilayer number were optimized for both normal and GLAD depositions. Scanning electron micrographs estimated the nanorods to be about 12 nm in diameter. M-H loops showed that the coercivity for the GLAD nanorods increased from 1.3 kOe for the normally deposited continuous films to 2.9 kOe for the GLAD nanorod array, a 123% increase.