A thin film structure in the form of, for example, a magnetic recording
medium having a deceased C-axis distribution is provided. The structure
includes a substrate having a first surface and a second surface
non-parallel to the first surface, a seed layer overlying the first
surface and the second surface of the substrate and a magnetic material
layer on the seed layer. The magnetic material layer has a C-axis tilted
with respect to an axis perpendicular to the magnetic material layer,
i.e., a surface normal of the magnetic material layer. The seed layer has
a columnar structure oriented generally perpendicular to either the first
surface or the second surface of the substrate. The columnar structure of
the seed layer acts as a template to epitaxial growth.