Effects of magnetic flux density and substrate temperature on Ni films prepared by means of unbalanced magnetron sputtering assisted by inductively coupled plasma

We prepared Ni films on glass substrates by means of Unbalanced Magnetron Sputtering Assisted by Inductively Coupled Plasma (UM-ICP). The effects of the magnetic flux density B-C and the substrate temperature T-S on their structures were investigated. We found that the surface grain size observed with an atomic force microscope became large as B-C and T-S increase. We also found that the (111) plane measured by X-ray diffraction was preferentially orientated on the films under B-C=5 mT at T-S=60 degrees C. These indicate that the energetic particle bombardment under B-C and the increase of T-S promote the surface diffusion on the Ni films. The ferromagnetic domain patterns observed with a magnetic force microscope showed the stripe domain structure having the domain width increasing with increasing T-S and the fractal dimension of 1.88.