Electrodeposition of CoPtMo magnetic films with incorporation of phosphorus

Abstract

Electrodeposition as a kind of significant electrochemical technique was used to prepare CoPtMo magnetic materials on copper substrate from an alkaline electrolyte. The influence of hypophosphite addition on the deposition process, alloy content, microstructure and magnetic properties of CoPtMo thin films was studied. The films that were prepared from the electrolytes without hypophosphite exhibited an fcc structure, with higher Pt percentage but lower coercivity. The presence of hypophosphite shifted alloy deposition to more negative potentials, limited the platinum percentage, caused higher Co content and exhibited an hcp structure. It was found that much higher coercivity of CoPtMo(P) than that of CoPtMo was mainly due to the incorporation of P at the grain boundaries.