Reaction of Amorphous Minb Films with Crystalline Metal Overlayers

Abstract

AbstractIn many cases the stability of amorphous films is influenced by interaction with metallic crystalline overlayers. Such interactions between Au, Ni, Nb and Ta overlayers and a-(Ni-Nb) films are reported. During interdiffusion Au overlayers reacted with a-(Ni-Nb) to form two different adjacent crystalline layers. In order to study the influence of relaxation of the amorphous film on overlayer reaction several a-(Ni-Nb) samples were pre-annealed prior to Au deposition. High depth resolution Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS) demonstrates that preannealing lowers the diffusion poefficient of Au in a-(Ni-Nb) at 4500C from 7.5×10−22 m2/s to 8.7×10−23 m22/s. During interdiffusion Ta was discovered to be substantially more inert than Au. For example, negligible interdiffusion between Ta and a-(Ni-Nb) at 505°C after 25 hours implies a diffusivity of less than 5×10−24 m2/s. These observations allow assessment of some of the requirements for increasing the stability of crystalline-amorphous metal film layered structures.