Study of Structural Morphology of Electrodeposited Ni Film

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Structural morphology of thin electrodeposited metallic films plays a vital role in determining the properties of the films and their application. We prepared a range of Ni electrodeposited polycrystalline films using a BIOLOGIC potentiostat and investigated the effects of varying parameters such as the deposition rate and concentration of the solution to improve control over their properties. We conducted analysis of surface morphology of thin films of area 1cm2, as well as at microstructural level of area 50x50 um2, using ex-situ AFM and in-situ HS AFM. Ex-situ AFM data helps us to do quantitative surface analysis, including slope, scaling analysis [1] and grain area calculation as a function of time, concentration, and applied potential. HS AFM provides us with information about the grain structure evolution at microstructural level [2]. The texture of films was determined by XRD analysis. For the thin films, Ni[111] orientation was dominant, but for thick films, the dominant crystallographic orientations was Ni[200].We also performed EBSD analysis for Ni thin films after milling with focused ion beam. EBSD uses backscattered electron to obtain the information of structural morphology and crystallographic orientation of thin films layer by layer. The correlation between ex-situ AFM and EBSD data helps to gain a clear understanding of the structural features of the films. Liu, L., & Schwarzacher, W. (2013). Slope analysis and scaling analysis of electrodeposited thin films. Electrochemistry communications, 29, 52-54.Koorikkat, A., Payton, O., Picco, L., & Schwarzacher, W. (2020). Imaging the Surface of a Polycrystalline Electrodeposited Cu Film in Real Time Using In Situ High-Speed AFM. Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 167(16), 162510.