Dissolution Dynamics of Artificially Structured Materials

Published

October 16, 2008

Author(s)

M Shima, L Salamanca-Riba, Thomas P. Moffat

Abstract

The anodic dissolution of an ultrathin cobalt film buried beneath a copper overlayer has been studied using voltammetry and chronoamperometry. The films were produced by sequential electrodeposition of cobalt and copper layers from a solution of 1.5 mol/L CoSO₄, 0.5 mol/L H₃BO₃ and 0.008 mol/L CuSO₄. Subsequent stripping analyses were preformed in the same electrolyte. The blocking efficiency of the copper overlayer was a strong function of its thickness and the stripping potential. Futhermore, the inhibition provided by the copper overlayer was found to be quite sensitive to the thickness of the buried cobalt layer. For copper overlayers between 13-29 monolayer equivalents of charge (MEQ) a sharp transition in the dissolution behavior of the buried cobalt layer was observed. Namely, negligible dissolution was observed if the cobalt layer was less than 30 MEQ while almost complete dissolution occured when the cobalt layer was thicker than 45 MEQ. These experiments provide guidance in selecting appropriate processing parameters for electrodeposition of Cu/Co multilayers and simultaneously provide a sensitive measure of the defect structure of such films.

Citation

Journal Electrochemical and Solid-State Letters

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

Co/Cu Multilayers, Cu(100), dissolution, strained-layer, voltammetry

Citation

Shima, M. , Salamanca-Riba, L. and Moffat, T. (2008), Dissolution Dynamics of Artificially Structured Materials, Journal Electrochemical and Solid-State Letters (Accessed October 31, 2024)