* Corresponding author. Present address: Philips Research Laboratories, Prof. Holstlaan 4, Box WY51, 5656 AA Eind- hoven, The Netherlands. Tel.: #31-40-2742538; fax: #31-40- 2744335. E-mail address: wouter.oepts@philips.com (W. Oepts).  Present Address: Veeco Technology Center, 80 Las Colinas Lane, San Jose CA 95119, USA. Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 218 (2000) 114}120 Enhanced anisotropy of permalloy layers sputter deposited on V-grooved substrates and tilted surfaces W. Oepts*, R. Coehoorn, J.C.S. Kools, W.J.M. de Jonge Department of Physics and COBRA, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands Philips Research Laboratories, Prof. Holstlaan 4, Box WY51, 5656 AA Eindhoven, The Netherlands Received 25 January 2000; received in revised form 28 March 2000 Abstract The magnetic anisotropy of 8}100 nm thick Ni  Fe  "lms sputter deposited on nanostructured V-grooved substrates and on tilted surfaces is investigated. Films deposited on a V-grooved substrate (200 nm period) with the sidefaces at an angle of 553 to the substrate plane, show a very large and essentially thickness-independent magnetic anisotropy "eld, viz. 25$3 kA/m. Planar reference "lms deposited also at an angle of 553 to their substrate normal show an increase of the magnetic anisotropy as well, but only to 8 kA/m, independent of the "lm thickness, which is explained as a growth- induced e!ect. It is argued that the enhanced anisotropy observed in the V-grooved substrates is not the result of shape anisotropy induced by the V-grooves. This leads to the conclusion that the observed enhanced anisotropy must also be a growth-induced e!ect, enhanced by the speci"c geometry of the V-grooves.  2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PACS: 75.30.Gw; 75.50.Ak; 85.15.Aa; 75.50.Bb Keywords: Magnetic anisotropy; Permalloy; Sputter deposition; V-grooved substrates 1. Introduction Investigations of the magnetic properties of mag- netic thin "lms grown on tilted surfaces is of great importance for devices in which "lms grown on canted surfaces and edges are employed. Due to a growth induced anisotropy, related to a low- symmetry mircrostructure, the magnetic properties of such "lms can be completely di!erent from those of "lms grown on non-tilted surfaces. A well- documented, intriguing, non-magnetic example of growth induced microstructure is the case of Cu "lms, evaporated obliquely on a Cu(0 0 1) single crystal [1]. In this paper we focus on the magnetic anisotropy of Ni  Fe  thin "lms, which are widely investigated for their soft magnetic properties. Experiments in the past have revealed that the magnetic anisotropy of Ni  Fe  "lms, either evaporated or sputtered, have a dependence on the 0304-8853/00/$ - see front matter  2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 3 0 4 - 8 8 5 3 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 3 5 2 - 8