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 BC and the substrate temperature TS on their structures were investigated. We found that the surface grain size observed with an atomic force microscope became large as BC and TS increase. We also found that the (111) plane measured by X-ray diffraction was preferentially orientated on the films under BC=5 mT at TS=60°C. These indicate that the energetic particle bombardment under BC and the increase of TS 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 TS and the fractal dimension of 1.88.