Coherent magnetic anisotropy is shown to be induced in vapor-deposited amorphous Tb-Fe by a thermally activated growth process. This process is hypothesized to involve rearrangement of local adatom configurations into energetically favorable orientations which minimize surface energy during the growth, a process analogous to the frequently observed crystallographic texturing of polycrystalline thin films. The anisotropy is found to be independent of the state of stress in the film during the growth, and does not depend on film thickness; these results are inconsistent with recently proposed models.

• Received 5 December 1991

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.68.1391