MEASUREMENT OF MAGNETORESISTANCE EFFECT IN NICKEL FILMS DEPOSITED OBLIQUELY BY THERMAL EVAPORATION

Substrate temperature dependences of the electrical resistivity and its anisotropy in obliquely vapor deposited nickel films were obtained by measuring magnetoresistance effect. The incidence angle measured from the normal to the substrate was 60° and the substrate temperature range from 91 to 373 K. In the temperature range lower than 310 K the resistivity is high and exhibits an anisotropy where its value in the direction perpendicular to the incidence plane of the vapor beam is lower than that in the parallel direction. On the other hand, the resistivity is low and its anisotropy disappears in the temperature range higher than 310 K. On the basis of these results the columnar grain structure in nickel films is analysed, and the validity of the analysis is recognized by ellipsometry and replica electron microscopy. © 1990.