Annealing Effects on the Structure and Resistivity of Ni–P Films

Abstract
Structural and electrical properties of electroless Ni–P thin films deposited on glass substrates were studied. Upon heating the as‐deposited films in vacuum, the resistivity was observed to change drastically, accompanied by structural transformation of the film from a single‐phase fcc Ni structure to a two‐phase structure of fcc Ni and tetragonal Ni3P. The mechanism responsible for the changes can be described quantitatively by two different thermally activated processes. One is the annihilation of grain boundaries which decreases the resistivity, and the other process is the formation of Ni3P which tends to increase the resistivity. Results show that a large proportion of Ni3P is formed only above 300 °C. The activation energy of the processes was found to be both temperature and film‐thickness dependent.

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