Mechanisms inducing compressive stress during electrodeposition of Ni

The evolution of stress during electrodeposition of Ni films on Au substrates has been investigated as a function of bath chemistry and deposition conditions to examine the microstructural origins of the compressive stress observed during deposition from an additive-free sulfamate bath. Three likely mechanisms for the generation of compressive stress in this system were investigated: interstitial hydrogen/impurity incorporation, capillarity stress, and a chemical-potential gradient driven atom incorporation model. Only the last model, the chemical-potential gradient model, could not be discounted as the active mechanism. However, further study is required to verify that this is the primary compressive stress generation mechanism. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.