Title: An investigation of the surface morphology of nanostructured nickel thin films prepared by electrodeposition

Authors: Morteza Torabi; A. Dolati

Addresses: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, P.O. Box 11365-8639, Tehran, Iran; University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada ' Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, P.O. Box 11365-8639, Tehran, Iran

Abstract: Nickel nanostructure thin films were electrodeposited on copper plates to investigate the fractal study. Scharifker's equations were derived for instantaneous and progressive nucleation and 3D growth of hemispherical centres under diffusion-controlled condition to calculate in situ change of fractal dimension of surface. It was assumed that the layer could be formed completely when fractal dimension of surface inclined to 2. Moreover, the fractal analysis of atomic force microscopy (AFM) images has confirmed the presumed model. Also, the power values of power spectral density (PSD) of the AFM images were determined using fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithms. The PSD plots are approximated by the k-correlation model. Calculating parameter C using this model revealed that nickel film growth is the intermediation of the bulk and condensation diffusion. The fractal dimension of the nickel thin films was about 2.3 that are estimated as Brownian fractal.

Keywords: power spectral density; PSD; fractal dimension; nanostructures; electrodeposition; nickel thin films; surface morphology; nanotechnology; copper plates.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSURFSE.2016.079042

International Journal of Surface Science and Engineering, 2016 Vol.10 No.5, pp.444 - 455

Accepted: 17 Aug 2015
Published online: 10 Sep 2016 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article