Structural properties controlled magnetisation of Ni/Al multilayers sputtered on flexible polymer substrate: Impact of Ni deposition rates

Abstract

The goal of this work is to determine how the rate of Ni deposition rates affect the structural characteristics that regulate the magnetization of Ni/Al multilayer thin films sputtered on flexible acrylic acetate polymer substrates. The films with a 5[Ni(20 nm)/Al(10 nm)] structure were gradually sputtered as different Ni deposition rates in the total thickness of 150 nm. With an increase in the rate of Ni deposition, the Ni contents increased from 61.5% to 69.6%. And, X-ray diffraction analysis verified that the films featured a face-centered cubic structure with variable peak intensities. Also, the scanning electron microscopy surface morphology analyses revealed that variations in the film surfaces were a result of the deposition rates. For magnetic measurements, the differences in the structural analysis were observed to cause a notable variation in saturation magnetization, MS, and coercivity, HC values. Accordingly, MS values increased consistently between 359.0 and 389.7 emu cm−3, but HC values decreased from around 34-32 to 28 Oe with the increase in Ni deposition rate from 0.02 to 0.10 nm s−1. It is also observed that when the Ni layers are generated at very fast deposition rates, the Ni/Al multilayer films have a high MS/HC ratio, which is significant for magnetic sensors. It has been concluded that the magnetisation of Ni/Al multilayer thin films can be controlled by the structural properties adjusting the Ni deposition rate.