Electrodeposition and characterization of nanocrystalline CoNiFe films

Nanocrystalline Co45Ni10Fe24 films have been fabricated using cyclic voltammetry technique from the solutions containing sulfate, then characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and vibrating sample magnetometer. Meanwhile, Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy technique has been employed to probe into the nucleation/growth behavior of Co45Ni10Fe24 films. The results show that, the obtained Co45Ni10Fe24 film possesses low coercivity of 973.3 A/m and high saturation magnetic flux density of 1.59 x 10(5) A/m. Under the experimental conditions, the nucleation/growth process of Co45Ni10Fe24 films is mainly under activation control. With the increase of the applied cathodic potential bias, the charge transfer resistance for CoNiFe deposition decreases exponentially. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights resented.