Properties of electrodeposited Fe–Cu films grown on ITO coated glass substrates at different electrolyte temperatures

Abstract

In this study, effect of electrolyte temperatureon structural and morphological properties of Fe–Cu filmselectrodeposited on ITO coated glass substrates has beeninvestigated. Structural analysis carried out by using X-raydiffraction indicated that the films consist of a mixture offace-centered cubic (FCC) Cu and body centered cubic(BCC)a-Fe phases. It was found that the crystalline size ofboth Fe and Cu increases with increasing electrolyte tem-perature. Compositional analysis performed using energydispersive X-ray spectroscopy showed that the Cu contentwithin the films enhances with increasing electrolyte tem-perature. The surface morphology of Fe–Cu films wasstudied using a scanning electron microscopy (SEM). SEMresults indicated that the surface morphology of Fe–Cufilms significantly depends on the electrolyte temperature.The investigation of the residual stress in the films indi-cated that the residual stress for the FCC Cu is tensile in allfilms regardless of electrolyte temperature, whereas, for theBCC Fe, it depends on the electrolyte temperature. Cor-relation between the surface morphology and the residualstress is discussed in terms of the obtained results.