Stereometric Parameters of the Cu/Fe NPs Thin Films Sebastian Stach, † Z ̇ aneta Garczyk, † Ştefan T ̧ ă lu, ‡ Shahram Solaymani, § Atefeh Ghaderi,* ,∥ Rostam Moradian, ∥,⊥ Negin Beryani Nezafat, § Seyed Mohammad Elahi, # and Hedieh Gholamali # † University of Silesia, Faculty of Computer Science and Materials Science, Institute of Informatics, Department of Biomedical Computer Systems, Będzińska 39, 41-205 Sosnowiec, Poland ‡ Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Department of AET, Discipline of Descriptive Geometry and Engineering Graphics, 103-105 B-dul Muncii Street, Cluj-Napoca 400641, Cluj, Romania § Young Researchers and Elite Club, Kermanshah Branch, Islamic Azad University, Kermanshah, Iran ∥ Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran ⊥ Nano Science and Technology Research Center, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran # Plasma Physics Research Centre, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran ABSTRACT: This paper analyses the three-dimensional (3-D) surface morphology of thin films of Fe on Cu nanoparticles (NPs) synthesized by direct-current (DC) magnetron sputtering deposited on glass substrates. Four samples coated with copper and iron and deposited on the glass surface were used as research materials. Thin films were obtained by means of a DC reactive magnetron sputtering method. The copper coating of each sample was 55 nm thick. In addition, the second, third, and fourth samples had a coating of iron, with a thickness of 40, 55, and 70 nm, respectively. The sample surface images were obtained by using an atomic force microscope operating in a contactless mode. The 3-D of the surface samples was divided into motifs of significant peaks and pits using MountainsMap Premium software, which uses the watershed segmentation algorithm. In addition, the highest and lowest points of motifs are localized. The parameters relating to all the segmented motifs consistent with ISO 25178-2:2012 have been generated using the software. They allow for motif analysis, detection of essential characteristics, and their characterization in terms of surface dimensions, volume, curvature, shape, structure, etc. MountainsMap Premium software makes it possible to perform 3-D segmentation of sample surface images and identify all sorts of motifs, such as peaks, pits, or irregular shapes in correlation with the surface statistical parameters. The analysis of motifs helps to understand their functional role in the test surface, in order to evaluate the relation among the 3-D microtextured surface. 1. INTRODUCTION In the recent decades, considerable progress has been made in the development of theoretical and computational methods to characterize thin film microstructures at the nanometer level and thus to relate material structures to material properties. 1,2 The micromorphology of thin film microstructures plays an important role in the characterization of physical, chemical, and thermodynamic processes involved at nanometer scale and can bring major improvements in the functionality and quality of the analyzed product. 1,2 Surface topography is a characteristic of paramount importance in engineering surface design based on the precision and functional performance requirements. 3,4 On the other hand, the textures of most engineering surfaces are random, either isotropic or anisotropic, and either Gaussian or non-Gaussian. 5 Metal nanoparticles (NPs) of size less than 100 nm have been the subject of extensive research due to their unique applications in many areas. 6,7 Copper oxide (CuO and Cu 2 O) compounds are interesting materials because of their applications as catalysts, as interconnects in electronics, and for corrosion of alloys. Also, Fe NPs are of special interest due to their possible use in magnetic recording. 8 On the other hand, in the literature, there are dif- ferent studies about characterization of microroughness para- meters of thin films prepared by DC magnetron sputtering. 9−12 Many theoretical and experimental studies highlighted that the rough surface morphology of thin films can be concisely charac- terized by fractal 9,13,14 and multifractal 15−19 geometry, which may be directly applied for data obtained from the AFM. An engineering 3-D surface with fractal/multifractal geometry has topographical features, that are independent of the measure- ment scale and possess only statistical self-similarity, which takes place only in the restricted range of the spatial scales. 17,18 Received: May 16, 2015 Revised: June 30, 2015 Article pubs.acs.org/JPCC © XXXX American Chemical Society A DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b04676 J. Phys. Chem. C XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX