Nanocrystalline Electroplated Cu–Ni: Metallic Thin Films with Enhanced Mechanical Properties and Tunable Magnetic Behavior

Abstract

Nanocrystalline 3 µm thick Cu1–xNix (0.45 ≤ x ≤ 0.87) films are electrodeposited galvanostatically onto Cu/Ti/Si (100) substrates, from a citrate‐ and sulphate‐based bath containing sodium lauryl sulphate and saccharine as additives. The films exhibit large values of reduced Young's modulus (173 < Er < 192 GPa) and hardness (6.4 < H < 8.2 GPa), both of which can be tailored by varying the alloy composition. The outstanding mechanical properties of these metallic films can be ascribed to their nanocrystalline nature—as evidenced by X‐ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy—along with the occurrence of stacking faults and the concomitant formation of intragranular nanotwins during film growth. Due to their nanocrystalline character, these films also show very low surface roughness (root mean square deviation of around 2 nm). Furthermore, tunable magnetic properties, including a transition from paramagnetic to ferromagnetic behavior, are observed when the Ni percentage is increased. This combination of properties, together with the simplicity of the fabrication method, makes this system attractive for widespread technological applications, including hard metallic coatings or magnetic micro/nano‐electromechanical devices.

Nanostructured Ti‐Zr‐Pd‐Si‐(Nb) bulk metallic composites: Novel biocompatible materials with superior mechanical strength and elastic recovery

“…[37][38][39] The elastic recovery and plasticity index were evaluated from the U el /U tot and U pl /U tot ratios, respectively. The mechanical and elastic properties were compared with those of commercial Ti-40Nb alloy.…”

Synthesis and Characterization of Nickel(II) Aminoalkoxides: Application to Molecular Precursors for MOCVD of Ni Thin Films

“…[9,10] Various nickel-based alloys as thin films can be used in catalysts, optical materials, magnetic materials, hydrogen storage, resistive and thermoelectric devices, and micro/nano-electromechanical systems. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] Nickel films have been deposited by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) or atomic layer deposition (ALD) processes with precursors such as Ni(CO) 4 , [23][24][25] nickelocenes, [26][27][28][29] nickel(II) β-diketonate complexes, [30][31][32][33] and Ni[MeC(NiPr) 2 ] 2 . [34,35] These precursors suffer from toxicity, low vapor pressure, poor thermal stability, and incorporation of impurities such as oxygen or carbon from single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies.…”

Mechanical testing of micro samples produced by a novel LIGA related process chain

“…Such materials possess improved mechanical properties compared to their coarse-grained counterparts (Pellicer et al 2010). One main advantage of these materials is that the Young's modulus and the hardness can be tailored by variation of the alloy composition.…”