Anisotropy and coercivity of amorphous RE-TM films

The origins of magnetic anisotropy and coercivity in sputter-deposited amorphous rare earth-transition metal thin films are discussed, focussing on microscopic mechanisms. We point out that two distinct mechanisms, directional compositional short range order and bond-orientational anisotropy, have to be considered, and discuss relevant experimental results. © 1987 IEEE