A. Haseeb et al., ELECTROCHEMICAL DEPOSITION - A METHOD FOR THE PRODUCTION OF ARTIFICIALLY STRUCTURED MATERIALS, Materials science & engineering. A, Structural materials: properties, microstructure and processing, 168(2), 1993, pp. 137-140
The potential of electrochemical deposition (ECD) as a production meth
od for artificially structured materials is discussed. Compared with p
hysical vapour deposition (PVD), ECD technology has some definite adva
ntages. Its low cost, industrial applicability and its ability to prod
uce structural features with sizes ranging from nanometres to micromet
res have recently created increased interest in this technology for th
e production of artificially structured materials. The different ECD m
ethods are briefly reviewed and some specific cases of artificially st
ructured coatings produced by ECD, such as epitaxial multilayered mate
rial (Cu/Ni), amorphous material in combination with crystalline mater
ial (NiP(x)/NiP(y)) and alternating hard and ductile materials (NiP(x)
/Sn), will be highlighted. It will be shown that, by controlling the E
CD conditions adequately, a wide range of artificially structured mate
rials with respect to their constituent elements and their microstruct
ural morphology may be produced.