Low-temperature specific heat study of Ni 85.5P xB 18.5−x (0 ⩽ x ⩽ 18.5) metallic glasses

Abstract

The low-temperature specific heat (LTSH) of the melt-quenched Ni 81.5P x - B 18.5− x amorphous alloy system, with 0 ⩽ x ⩽ 18.5, is presented. The decomposition of the LTSH into magnetic, lattice and electronic contributions shows that both Debye temperature θ D and electronic specific heat coefficient decrease when the concentration of P increases.The electronic density of states N( E F ), deduced from γ for various Ni-metalloid alloys, is plotted as a function of the average electronic concentration xZ M , where x is the metalloid concentration and Z M is the chemical valence of M. Following Malozemoff et al.'s work, this plot is considered as a representation of the band structure and yields the change of the Fermi level with alloying.