Incident angle dependence of recording characteristics of vacuum deposited Co-Cr films

The authors report on an investigation of the relation between the incidence angle of evaporated atoms onto a substrate and the magnetic properties, microstructure, and recording characteristics of Co-Cr films. The Co-Cr films deposited at an oblique incidence angle have an easy axis of magnetization which tilts from the film normal and consist of columnar grains which tilt from the film normal. For films deposited at an incidence angle from 55° to 20°, the isolated pulse waveform is not a double pulse, but a single-peak-like pulse with narrow pulse width. An eye pattern for moving-picture digital recording was clearly observed using the Co-Cr tapes. The compensation amplitude in the short wavelength region was very small, and equalization such as a Hilbert transform was unnecessary for films deposited at an incidence angle from 55° to 20 °