Magnetic thin films have been deposited by molecular beam epitaxy on vicinal Si(111) substrates misoriented towards [11‐2]. The substrates were thermally pretreated in order to activate the step bunching mechanism, which results in a laterally modulated surface topology with a period of ∼800 A˚. Cobalt or permalloy layers grown on such surfaces exhibit an in‐plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy. This anisotropy is associated with the lateral pseudoperiodic variation of the crystalline orientation of the metallic layers as observed by transmission electron microscopy. Magnetoresistance measurements on microstructured films reveal a single‐domain behavior with a magnetization reversal by rotation. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.