Ion-assisted Growth of Quasicrystalline Cu-Al-Sc Directly from the Vapor Phase

• Ion assisted depositions have been used to grow the Al38Cu46Sc16 quasicrystalline phase directly from the vapor phase in thin film form. Diffraction experiments reveal that amorphous films are formed at room temperature. The quasicrystalline phase formed at a substrate temperature of 340 °C with an improved quality at higher temperatures up to 460 °C. The quasicrystal film quality is improved by increasing the ion flux during ion-assisted growth with ion energies of 26.7 eV. Increasing the ion energy further was however found to cause resputtering and defects in the film. Electron microscopy reveals a polycrystalline microstructure with crystal grains in the shape of thin needles.

Keyword

Quasicrystal

thin film

ion-assisted depositions

magnetron sputtering

TEM

XRD

TECHNOLOGY

TEKNIKVETENSKAP

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

ovr (subject category)