CoPt antidot arrays fabricated with dry-etching using AAO templates

In this work, we fabricated CoPt/Ag antidot arrays with small size and high areal density, using ultrathin anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template as a dry etching mask. Ag as an underlayer can reduce the ordering temperature and enhance the (001) texture. Compared to other methods such as direct deposition of a CoPt thin film on AAO templates, this method has the advantage of easily controllable (001) orientation, while the orientation of CoPt films directly deposited on the amorphous AAO template would be random. Direct deposition also cannot obtain a clean antidot array since the deposited material inevitably lands on side walls and/or on the substrate.