Electrical Resistivity And Crystal Structure Of Nickel-Based Multilayer Thin Films

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe electrical resistivity and crystal structure of three Ni-based periodic multilayer thin film systems (Al/Ni, Ti/Ni, and Cu/Ni) have been investigated. In each series of films the Ni layer thickness was systematically varied while the thickness of the ‘spacer’ layer (Al, Ti, or Cu) was fixed. In the Al/Ni and Ti/Ni systems films with very thin Ni layers (and consequently large volume fractions of spacer and ‘interfacial’ material) yielded very high resistivities which dropped rapidly with increasing Ni thickness. By contrast, the resistivity of Cu/Ni multilayers continuously increased with Ni layer thickness due to the decline in volume fraction of high conductivity Cu. Both the Al/Ni and Ti/Ni systems exhibit Ni(111) texture in the thicker Ni layer samples. As the Ni layer thickness decreases the Ni(111) peak loses intensity and broadens due to finer grain size and increasing disorder. Al-Ni and Ti-Ni compounds are also noted. In the Cu/Ni system, however, the sharpness of the Ni(111) peak passes through a minimum as the Ni layer thickness decreases but then increases for the thinnest Ni layer samples.