Abstract

This work reports the results obtained from depositing metallic Ni thin films (TF) on Cu and Si substrates via Electrodeposition and deposition by cathodic cyclic voltammetry. Initially, Electropolishing (EP) was conducted on Cu samples to reduce surface roughness, while Si substrates underwent HF immersion to remove superficial Si oxide and enhance substrate conductivity. The nanostructures were morphologically characterized using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Proximity Microscopy: Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM). Additionally, sharp tips of W were electrochemically etched (EE) for STM characterization. AFM measured the nickel thin films thicknesses, congruent with theoretically estimated values for each technique, ranging from 128nm to 236nm. EE-fabricated W tips for STM had minimum radii of 167nm. Spatial resolution of 2D and 3D topographic images measured with STM exceeded that of AFM, primarily due to smaller dimensions of EE-fabricated tips compared to AFM probes. Results highlight the importance of flat substrates for facilitating topography and thickness observation of deposited films with Proximity Microscopies. Prior characterization of substrates enables distinguishing between contributions to topography from the film and substrate.