Template Assisted Growth and Characterization of Electrodeposited Permalloy(Ni 80 Fe 20 )/Cu Multilayered Nanowires

Permalloy (Ni80Fe20)/Cu multilayered nanowires (NWs) were potentiostatically electrodeposited within the nanopores of anodized alumina from sulfate baths via pulse technique. Microstructures and compositions of the nanowires were characterized using various microscopy and spectroscopy techniques. The effects of deposition potential and concentration of metal ions were optimized to reduce composition inhomogeneity and incorporation of copper in the permalloy layers. Composition of the NiFe layers was found to be close to 20% Fe with maximum 5% Cu. Our experimental observations show that individual nanowires exhibit distinct and coherent layering structure with rough and wavy interfaces. Synthesized single nanowires was also AC dielectrophoretically assembled across microfabricated gold electrodes for subsequent magnetoresistance measurement.