Surface micromorphology analysis of Cu/Ni nanocomposite thin films by power spectra density and fractal geometry

Copper (Cu) and nickel (Ni) nanoparticles have been grown simultaneously on glass and silicon substrates by RF sputtering method to form three Cu/Ni nanocomposites at different deposition times. The existence of Cu and Ni peaks in the X-ray diffraction (XRD) profiles confirms the crystalline structure of samples with Cu and Ni atomic content which have also been characterized by Rutherford backscattering (RBS) method. Moreover, the structural and morphological properties of the prepared nanocomposites have been compared with respect to their morphologies by means of atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis. In order to compare the surface roughness over different spatial frequency ranges and evaluate surface quality, power spectral density (PSD) of each sample has been extracted from AFM data and also, the experimental and theoretical results have been compared. The fractal nature of these nanocomposites has been finally discussed.