Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Highly ordered antidot arrays of permalloy have been prepared by sputtering onto different nanoporous alumina membranes (NAMs) and characterized by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), SEM and Vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM). RBS spectrometry combined with SEM image analysis provides information on the in-depth composition and porosity of the different magnetic antidot nanostructures. The coercivity increases in the antidot nanostructures as compared with that of its parent continuous film. The saturation magnetization values of the antidot nanostructures are observed to increase with increasing pore size. Our results suggest an enhanced magnetization at the Fe(20)Ni(80)/Al(2)O(3) interface. Copyright (C) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.431114171422CAM-UAMFundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)