Microstructure of magnetron Co-sputtered CoCr thin films.

Magnetic CoCr films deposited on fused quartz substrates were prepared by the dual-gun magnetron co-sputtering technique. The cross-section transmission electron microscopy studies showed the establishment of a textured columnar structure of the hcp CoCr films. Furthermore, the columnar grains were found to nucleate at the surface of the substrates and grow with the c-axis parallel to the film-normal direction. No initial layer of randomly oriented small equiaxed grains was observed.