Electroless Deposition of Ni-Fe Alloys on Scaffolds for 3D Nanomagnetism

3D magnetic nanostructures are of great interest due to the possibility to design novel properties and the benefits for both technological applications such as high-density data storage, as well as more fundamental studies. One of the main challenges facing the realization of these three-dimensional systems is their fabrication, which includes the deposition of magnetic materials on 3D surfaces. In this work, the electroless deposition of Ni-Fe on a 3D-printed, non-conductive microstructure is presented. The deposited films exhibit low coercivity, with the saturation magnetization and composition corresponding to the archetypal soft magnetic material permalloy. For fundamental studies of 3D micromagnetism, this new development in fabrication offers the possibility to combine the flexibility of 3D nanofabrication techniques such as two-photon lithography for the fabrication of 3D scaffolds with a homogeneous soft ferromagnetic thin film, and thus represents an important step toward exploring the rich physics of complex 3D magnetic architectures with tailored properties and the development of advanced applications.