We present an investigation on the magnetic properties of Py/Ru/FeCo/IrMn spin valves grown by dc magnetron sputtering. The sample fabrication setup has two important features, (i) the five magnetron sputtering sources are placed in a cluster flange 72° from each other, and (ii) each source is tilted with respect to the sample normal. In-plane angular dependence of the ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) was used to obtain the relevant magnetic anisotropies, such as uniaxial and exchange bias fields. The oblique deposition geometry employed has induced non-collinear easy axes of the two ferromagnetic (FM) layers, with high uniaxial field strengths. The symmetry shift of the angular dependence of the FMR resonances of the two FM layers gives us directly the angle between the easy axes of FM₁ (Py) and FM₂ (FeCo), which turned out to be the angle between two adjacent sputtering sources. The observations of the present study suggest that, by combining oblique deposition and appropriate angles of incidence of the deposition flux, the uniaxial (and unidirectional) axes of individual FM layers can be precisely engineered in spin valve fabrication.

The angular dependence of the hysteresis shift has been investigated in ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic (NiFe/IrMn) bilayers grown by oblique deposition under the influence of a static magnetic field applied perpendicular to the uniaxial anisotropy direction induced during the growth process. It was found that at low oblique deposition angles, the unidirectional anisotropy field is much greater than the uniaxial anisotropy field and the corresponding anisotropies directions are noncollinear. In these conditions, the angular dependence of the hysteresis loop shift exhibits the well know cosine like shape but demanding a phase shift. Contrary to this, at high oblique deposition angle (70°), the uniaxial anisotropy plays the fundamental role and the anisotropies directions are collinear. In this case, the exchange bias displays a jump phenomenon. The numerical calculations are consistent with the experimental data obtained from magneto-optical Kerr effect and ferromagnetic resonance.

The inversion degree of a spinel-type nanomaterial is an essential parameter to understand the magnetic and electronic properties of ferrites. By micromagnetic simulations, we were able to connect DFT calculations and experiments for CoFe ₂ O ₄ NPs.