Electrodeposition of low-stress NiFe thin films from a highly acidic electrolyte

Physical properties, such as surface morphology, microstructure, and stress, were investigated for electrodeposited NiFe soft magnetic thin films synthesized from a highly acidic electrolyte. The characteristics of the anomalous NiFe electrodeposition diminished when the temperature of the electrolyte increased. The FCC structure was the dominant microstructure of the NiFe alloys until the Fe content was increased to similar to 40%. The film stress was maximal when the composition was 60Ni40Fe. The coercivity of the NiFe alloy thin film decreased to 10 Oe when the composition was 80Ni20Fe. The stress and coercivity of NiFe thin films were highly related to the variation of the alloy composition, which caused a change in the grain size. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.