EFFECT OF THICKNESS ON THE STRUCTURAL, MICROSTRUCTURAL, ELECTRICAL AND MAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF Ni FILMS ELABORATED BY PULSED ELECTRODEPOSITION ON Si SUBSTRATE

Abstract

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.