Correlation Between 3-D Surface Topography and Different Deposition Times of Engineered Ni@a-C:H Thin Films

This study is aimed at analyzing the surface micromorphology of amorphous hydrogenated carbon layers containing nickel nanoparticles (Ni-NPs@a-C:H) within their structure, which were sputtered by co-deposition of RF-Sputtering and RF-PECVD method from acetylene gas and nickel target on glass substrates. Prepared films were then used as research material following their deposition time at three different times of 3, 7 and 13 minutes. Series of height samples were taken with the help of atomic force microscopy (AFM) operating in a non-contact mode and examined in order to determine their surface engineering characteristics. The analysis of 3-D surface texture helps to understand their essential characteristics and their implications as well as graphicalmodels and their implementation in computer simulation.