Properties and applications of heavy rare earth -- Transition metal amorphous films

Properties of amorphous heavy rare earth-transition metal films are presented. Attention is concentrated on the properties which are important from the point of view of possible applications, namely: magnetic structure, perpendicular anisotropy, linear magnetostriction, and coercivlty as well as the spontaneous Hall effect. Possible applications of the films considered are shown, in particular, applications as the information storage media in digital memories, as well as in surface acoustic wave devices and in devices which utilize the Hall effect are examined.