Electroless deposition process for fabricating magnetic dot arrays was studied. A patterned Si substrate with a SiO2 resist was produced by processes combined with electron-beam lithography and reactive ion etching. By immersing the patterned Si substrate into a CoNiP electroless deposition bath, CoNiP was deposited only into the patterned pores, demonstrating a satisfactory area selectivity of the deposition. Excellent uniformity on the CoNiP deposition into the patterned pores with diameter less than 100 nm and high aspect ratio (> 5) was achieved by applying chemical activation processes using a Pd solution prior to the deposition. The CoNiP dot arrays exhibited higher perpendicular squareness ratio than that of CoNiP continuous film and showed a clear magnetization state at DC-magnetized state, which originated from the shape anisotropy caused by high aspect ratio of the dot patterns. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.