“…2 Two effective easy axes emerge along the Cr͓100͔ and Cr͓010͔ directions yielding higher values of coercivity (H c ), remanence squareness (S), and coercivity squareness (S*), while the Cr͓110͔ and Cr͓110͔ directions become effective hard axes with lower H c , S, and S*. Several articles have reported successfully fabricated bicrystal thin-film samples on NaCl͑001͒, 3 Cr͑001͒, 2 MgO͑001͒, 4 and LiF͑001͒ 5 single crystal substrates. In this study, we report the use of Ag thin films epitaxially grown on hydrofluoric acid ͑HF͒-etched Si͑001͒ wafers as templates for the growth of bicrystal CoCrTa/Cr thin films.…”