We have studied the effect of thickness on the structural, microstructural, electrical and magnetic properties of Ni films electrodeposited onto [Formula: see text]-Si (100) substrates. A series of Ni films have been prepared for different potentials ranging from [Formula: see text]1.6[Formula: see text]V to [Formula: see text]2.6[Formula: see text]V. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), four point probe technique, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) have been used to investigate the physical properties of elaborated Ni thin films. From the analysis of RBS spectra, we have extracted the films thickness [Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text] ranges from 83[Formula: see text]nm to 422[Formula: see text]nm). We found that the Ni thickness, [Formula: see text] (nm), linearly increases with the applied potential. The Ni thin films are polycrystalline and grow with the [Formula: see text] texture. The lattice parameter [Formula: see text] (Å) monotonously decreases with increasing thickness. However, a positive strain was noted indicating that all the samples are subjected to a tensile stress. The mean grain sizes [Formula: see text] (nm) and the strain [Formula: see text] decrease with increasing thickness. The electrical resistivity [Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text]cm) increases with [Formula: see text] for [Formula: see text] less than 328[Formula: see text]nm. The diffusion at the grain boundaries may be the important factor in the electrical resistivity. From AFM images, we have shown that the Ni surface roughness decreases with increasing thickness. The coercive field [Formula: see text], the squareness factor [Formula: see text], the saturation field [Formula: see text] and the effective anisotropy constant [Formula: see text] are investigated as a function of Ni thickness and grain sizes. The correlation between the magnetic and the structural properties is discussed.
Ni thin films have been electrodeposited on [Formula: see text]-Si (100) substrates for different deposition times at a fixed potential of 2[Formula: see text]V. The as-elaborated films have been characterized by Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM). From RBS spectra, we have extracted the Ni film thicknesses, [Formula: see text], which ranges from 105 nm to 710 nm. The analysis of XRD spectra shows the existence of a strong [Formula: see text]111[Formula: see text] texture for all film thicknesses. The strain values [Formula: see text] are negative for all Ni films indicating that they are under compressive stresses. The grains size, [Formula: see text], increases to reach a maximum for [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]nm then decreases again with increasing [Formula: see text][Formula: see text](nm). From AFM images, we have shown that the films become progressively smoother with increasing thickness. We have shown that the coercive field measured in parallel geometry, [Formula: see text], increases with increasing thickness.
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