Preparation And Crystallization Of Zr-Cu Amorphous Alloy Films

In this paper, Zr_xCu_1-x binary amorphous alloy thin films were prepared onSi(111) substrate by magnetron co-sputtering. X-ray diffractometer(XRD) andatom force microscope(AFM) were used to study the formation of amorphousalloy films with the change of chemical composition. The influence of sputteringconditions on the structure of films and the crystallizing process of amorphousalloy films were also investigated. Nanoindentor is used to measure thenanohardness and elastic modulus of films.The XRD results indicate that, in the scale of 35≤x≤65, the amorphousforming ability of films rises continuously with the increase of x, which isdifferent from the counterpart bulk alloy. In the pressure scale of 0.1⁰.5 Pa, thedecrease of sputtering pressure benefits to amorphous formation. High substratetemperature and bias voltage are unfavorable to the the formation of amorphousstructure. The XRD and AFM analysis of the Zr₆₅Cu₃₅ amorphous films annealed atdifferent temperature ascertained that the crystallization temperature is within300³50℃. The studies of substrate-film interface nuclearation and film surfacenuclearation show that the regular rectanglelike crystal can grow by the former.The mechanical property is studied by nanoindentor. The results indicatethat the nanohardness and elastic modulus of Zr₆₅Cu₃₅ amorphous films arehigher than that of crystalline films. Therefore, the Zr65Cu35 amorphous film is apotential material in wear-resistant field.