Microstructure evolution with varied layer thickness in magnetron-sputtered Ni/C multilayer films

The microstructure evolution of magnetron-sputtered Ni/C multilayers was investigated by varying the Ni and C layer thickness in the region of a few nanometers. For the samples having 2.6-nm-thick C layers, the interface width increases from 0.37 to 0.81 nm as the Ni layer thickness decreases from 4.3 to 1.3 nm. Especially for the samples with Ni layers less than 2.0 nm, the interface width changes significantly due to the discontinuously distributed Ni crystallites. For the samples having 2.8-nm-thick Ni layers, the interface width increases from 0.37 to 0.59 nm when the C layer thickness decreases from 4.3 to 0.7 nm. The evolution of interface microstructures with varied Ni and C layers is explained based on a proposed simple growth model of Ni and C layers.