Structural and magnetic study of an electrodeposited Ni/Cu thin film by neutron reflectometry

The structural and magnetic properties of Ni-Cu thin film on a Si (111) substrate, grown by the electrodeposition method, have been studied using room-temperature neutron reflectometry, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques. The structural parameters of the thin film have been extracted from unpolarized neutron reflectometry measurements. The polarized neutron reflectivity measurement showed that there is a reduction in the magnetic moment of a Ni atom compared to its bulk value in the layer as well as at the interfaces. XRD shows crystalline growth of the film. The correlation factors quantifying the morphology of the Ni-air interface have been obtained from AFM measurements. (c) 2006 The Electrochemical Society.