The effect of thickness and deposition angle on structural, chemical and magnetic properties of nickel slanted columns

In this work, the influence of different deposition angles on the structural, chemical and magnetic properties of nickel (Ni) thin films was investigated. Nickel samples were deposited by glancing angle deposition technique at two different angles, 65o and 85o. Characterization of the thin films was carried out by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and magneto-optical Kerr effect microscopy. Structural analysis was found that the changes in the deposition angle have a great influence on the porosity of the film as well as on the amount of the present nickel oxide (NiO) in the samples. On the other hand, we have also found that different deposition angle changes the magnetic response of nickel film. The coercivity of the samples deposited at the angle of 85o is significantly higher compared to the samples deposited at lower angle which could be correlated with the higher porosity and the amount of NiO in the thin films.