Magnetic and Electrical Properties of Electrodeposited Nickel Films

Abstract

Magnetic and electrical properties of nickel (Ni) films prepared by electrodepositions under a range of growth times (different thicknesses) have been investigated in detail using magneto optical Kerr effect (MOKE) magnetometery and magneto-resistance (MR) measurements, respectively. Square hysteresis loops were obtained from most of the locations on these samples with a high remanent magnetisation. A reduction in the coercivity was noticed by increasing the deposition time. A wide distribution of the coercivity across the sample area and a slight change in the shape of the hysterseis loops was noticed, attributed to the variations in the film surface morphology, in particular the surface non-uniformity which can act as pinning centres during the domain wall reversal. These defects have a more significant effect at shorter deposition times, which increases the coercivity. The coercivity obtained from MR measurements showed a good agreement with the coercivity of MOKE loops, indicating that the magnetisation at the surface of such films behaves similarly as their bulks. This article gives an indication that Ni films produced by this technique under such conditions are non-uniform, soft at longer growth times and largely isotropic.

Keywords

• Ferromagnetic Nickel films
• Electrodeposition
• Elemental composition
• Magnetic and Electrical properties