Electrodeposited Ni–Mn thin films: an investigation on the structural, microstructural, composition, and magnetic properties

Herein, the impact of crystallite size and the thickness on the magnetic properties of Ni–Mn thin films prepared by electrode deposition technique is reported. The XRD, SEM, EDX mapping, and VSM studies systematically revealed the structural features, surface characteristics, composition, and magnetic behavior, respectively. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis validated the mixed crystalline Cubic Ni and Tetragonal Mn phases. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) results revealed that surface morphology and grain size significantly changed with thickness of the films. The crystallite size is found to vary with the thickness and the saturation magnetization values showed a direct correlation with the film thickness, increasing from 40 to 200 emu/cm 3 and from 33 to 187 emu/cm 3 for in-plane and out-of-plane orientations, respectively.