Effect of Annealing and Properties of Electrodeposited Fe-Ni-Co Thin Films

International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume VII, Issue II, February 2020 | ISSN 2321–2705

Effect of Annealing and Properties of Electrodeposited Fe-Ni-Co Thin Films

Mohan Rangam Kadiresan
 Department of Physics, Karpagam Academy of Higher Educaton, Coimbatore, TamilNadu, India

Abstract- Nano crystalline FeNiCo alloy thin films with annealingis deposited on the copper substrate by electro deposition method. Electro deposited FeNiCo thin films with before and after annealing are subjected to the structural, morphological and mechanical characterization analysis. The chemical composition of the coated thin films is analysed by EDAX. The surface and structural morphology of the coated film are analysed by SEM and XRD. The mechanical properties of FeNiCo thin films are analysed by VHT. The SEM pictures of FeNiCo thin films show that the deposits of thin films are crack free, uniform and bright surface. All the electro deposited FeNiCo films exhibit FCC crystalline structure. The VHN result of FeNiCo thin films shows that thin films coated at high bath temperature have highest saturation hardness value. Fe-Ni-Co thin films can be used for the manufacturing of MEMS and NEMS devices.

Keywords – Thin films, Characterization, Electrodeposition, Crystalline size, Temperature, X-ray diffraction, Micro hardness, Surface morphology

I. INTRODUCTION

The importance of electro deposition as a fabrication technology in the electronic industry is large and growing [1-3]. Electro deposited magnetic thin films are important in computer read/write heads and MEMS because of their fiexibility, capability, quality and low cost. The most commonly used magnetic materials in MEMS and NEMS are soft magnetic materials, such as NiFe, NiCo and NiW [4-6]. The electro deposition technique is especially interesting due to itscost-effectiveness, easy maintenance and quality deposits. The combination of good mechanical and structural properties lead to the use of electroplated NiFe films in actuators, microscopic sensors, micro motors and frictionless micro gears [7-9]. The use ofNiFe as the soft film which can be improved by adding a third element with NiFe alloy. Permalloy[NiFe] is the best known thin film alloy in MEMS applications [10-13]. In this current investigation, the electro deposition method is selected for coating FeNiCo thin films. In this present work, it is analysed that the effect of different concentration of cobalt on FeNiCo thin films. This paper summarizes the synthesis and characterizations of electroplated FeNiCo thin films with different concentration of cobalt.

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