Ni-Nanoparticle Decorated Columnar Microstructure for an Electroless NiP Thin-Film: Micropillar Compression Response

Electroless NiP has found applications as a coating material for mechanical work pieces as well as magnetic and electronic devices. A columnar microstructure is observed to form parallel to the growth direction if the lateral growth of the film is constrained by neighbouring domains. There currently exist no reports on the possible impact of column orientation on the mechanical properties of these films. In this study, characterisation of the columnar structure show that nanoscale Ni grains decorate column boundaries in amorphous NiP thin film. Uniaxial compression and analysis of micropillar samples reveal that compressing orthogonal to the columnar microstructure has a perceptible effect on material strength.