Nano-Morphological, Magnetic and Structural Properties of Ni Films Prepared by RF-Sputtering

Abstract

Sputtered Ni Films with various deposited times (30, 60, 90,120 and 150 min.) were prepared on glass substrate by RF-sputtering in Argon gas to study effects of sputtering time on their morphological, magnetic and thermal properties. Surface morphological of Ni films were investigated by AFM. The AFM images show a small variation of surface roughness with sputtering time. Average surface roughness of Ni films over scan area of 1μm x 1μm, 5μm x 5μm and 10μm x 10μm are about 0.57, 1.64 and 2.49 nm, respectively. The AFM result infers that Ni films prepared by RF-sputtering exhibit surface roughness in order at nano-scale and have smoother surface than that prepared by DC-sputtering [1]. Structure of Ni films was characterized by XRD. The results display that Ni films exhibit a broad peak of Ni (FCC) phase in (111) plane with a hump at 2θ = 23^o [1, 2]. Intensity of Ni (111) peak is increased with increasing sputtering time. Magnetic property of Ni films was study by VSM. The VSM results confirm that Ni films deposited for 90-150 min have a ferromagnetic phase and saturation magnetization is increased whereas coercive field is practically kept constant with increasing deposited time [3, 4]. The DTA result of Ni films show an exothermic peak at 850^oC corresponding to decomposition of Ni atoms from the glass substrate. The results confirm that surface roughness, magnetic and structural properties Ni films prepared by RF sputtering can be improved by an appropriate deposited time.