Microstructure and Epitaxy of c-Axis Oriented Single Crystal Cobalt Films Grown on Rigid Underlayers

We have established the conditions to grow c -axis oriented Co films on mica substrates and characterized their crystallography and microstructure in detail. In particular, these films are single crystal, c -axis oriented, Co hcp and are grown epitaxially by e-beam evaporation on either Ti or Ru underlayers. The orientation relationship is basically (00.1) mica y(00.1) underlayer y(00.1) Co , and [11.0] mica y[10.0] underlayer y[10.0] Co . Films grown on Ru underlayers have an average grain size of 50–80 nm with negligible fcc content. For Ti underlayers, the 15–20 nm size grains contain a small fraction of fcc cobalt. The growth of such films makes it possible to measure fundamental magnetic properties of the individual microstructural components/ grains of a thin film recording media.