Magnetic and hardness properties of nanostructured Ni-Co films deposited by a nonaqueous electroless method

Nanostructured NixCo100-x films were deposited on Cu substrates by reducing the constituent metal salts in refluxing ethylene glycol at 194 degrees C. The average crystallite size increased with x, and reached a maximum of 64 nm when x = 100. The coercivity H (c) of the films measured in the directi on perpendicular (perpendicular to) to the plane of the film was higher tha n that in the parallel (parallel to) direction. For the sample of x = 50, H (c perpendicular to) was 379 Oe, which was six times that of H (c parallel to.) Saturation magnetization M (s) in the film plane was 1016 emu/cm(3), and the remanent magnetization M (r) 636 emu/cm(3), giving a squareness rat io of 0.63. This film also had a Vickers hardness of 193. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics.