Magnetic multilayers on nanosphere arrays with various curvature radius

[Co/Pt]n multilayers with different Co thickness have been deposited on a silicon (Si) substrate to obtain better perpendicular anisotropy. The 0.5 nm thickness of the Co layer was chosen as the optimized thickness of the multilayer. Magnetic nanostructures with cap configuration were fabricated based on the template of polystyrene (PS) colloid sphere arrays with various curvature radius. Compared to the flat multilayer, the cap multilayer showed an oblique average anisotropy axis. When the curvature radius of the colloidal sphere increased, the shape of the multilayers changed from ellipsoidal to spherical, which led to a different dependence of magnetic properties on the field angles. The varying shape anisotropy, the dipole–dipole interaction between small magnetic caps, and the special nucleation mechanism on the spheres larger than 400 nm caused the Mr/MsMr/Ms ratio and the coercivity to first increase and then decrease with varying curvature radius of the PS spheres.

► The [Co(0.5 nm)/Pt(5 nm)]16 multilayer had a better perpendicular anisotropy on the Si substrate.
► [Co/Pt]n magnetic multilayers were deposited on nanosphere arrays with various curvature radius.
► The magnetic cap showed an oblique average anisotropy axis.
► The Mr/MsMr/Ms ratio and the coercivity of magnetic cap strongly depend on the curvature radius of the polystyrene (PS) spheres.