Nanofabrication as a probe of anisotropy distribution in Co/Pd multilayers

In an attempt to determine, in one system, if the source of the broad island switching field distribution (SFD) arises from intrinsic film properties or from extrinsic sources, such as lithography variations, arrays of patterned Co/Pd magnetic islands with perpendicular anisotropy are fabricated. The islands display single domain remanent states after easy axis saturation, as observed by magnetic Kerr effect and magnetic force measurements. Both the coercivity and width of the SFD of the island array increase with decreasing island size.