Microstructures of Ni/Cu and Ni-Co/Cu Multilayers Produced by Electrodeposition Method

Microstructures of Ni/Cu and Ni-Co/Cu multilayers were investigated by X-ray diffraction analysis. These multilayered structures were fabricated on copper substrates using electrodeposition technique. At an as-deposited Ni/Cu multilayer with the layer thickness of h=5nm, a single diffraction peak appeared, although the multilayer of h=100nm exhibited the diffractions splitting into two peaks which resulted from both the Ni and Cu layers. In the Ni-Co/Cu multilayers, it was found that composition of the Ni-Co layer depended on an electric potential applied during deposition. The fcc and hcp structures were detected at the Ni-rich and the Co-rich deposits, respectively. The Vickers hardness of the Co-Ni/Cu multilayer was higher than that of the Ni/Cu multilayer.