Fabrication and magnetic properties of long Ni wires of submicron width

Ordered arrays of 250 μm long submicrometric Ni wires have been fabricated on silicon substrates by electron beam lithography. The center-to-center distance between two adjacent parallel wires is 900 nm, while the linewidth is 200 nm. The array is prepared over a total area of 250x250 μm2, so that the magnetic behavior can be studied by magnetooptical Kerr effect. The results show an increment in the coercive field HC of these submicrometric patterned structures in comparison with the continuous films. The analysis of the angular dependence of HC reveals that the magnetization reversal process of the Ni wires is well consistent with an incoherent rotation by curling