Abstract
In this paper, we report the detailed investigation into the effects of plating temperature and applied current density upon the residual stress of plated nickel film. Thin layers of nickel are electroplated onto the tip surface of atomic force microscope (AFM) cantilevers and quantitative residual stress of plated nickel film is determined by detecting the self-deformation of the released AFM cantilever. The residual stress was a strong function of the process conditions, and decreased with the elevation of the current density and plating temperature. And the intrinsic and extrinsic stresses of plated nickel are separated from the measured residual stress, and correlated with plating conditions. Dependence of the plated thickness on the residual stress is also considered. Through-thickness variation of residual stress is also experimentally investigated and compared to the analytical values.