抄録
This paper proposes a new method to determine the direction of easy axis in a uniaxial magnetic anisotropy film using the extraordinary (or spontaneous) Hall effect. In this method, the magnetic easy axis is derived mathematically from two magnetic hard directions. The hard directions are obtained experimentally as the magnetic field directions where the Hall characteristic curve loses hysteresis. In order to examine the validity of the method, nickel thin films with oblique magnetic anisotropy were prepared by oblique incidence evaporation, and the Hall effect was investigated on these films, stressing on the field direction dependence of the Hall curve. The experimental results agreed well with the theoretical considerations. It was also found that the hysteresis disappearance was very sensitive to the direction of the applied field H particularly in magnetically well-oriented films. This fact suggests that the Hall method enables high accuracy measurement of the easy axis. Accuracy better than 0.1° may be expected by this method.
