TiZrNi quasicrystal film prepared by magnetron sputtering

Abstract

Neutron generators, as an important neutron source, have been widely used in various fields. In order to improve their storage and service lifetime, the preparation of TiZrNi quasicrystal tritium target film with magnetron sputtering technology is explored in this paper. The nano-quasicrystal phase is found and confirmed for the first time in the film fabricated with the alloy target of Ti34Zr49Ni17 and substrate deposition temperature of 450 °C. At a given composition of the TiZrNi alloy target, the formation of quasicrystal phase is very sensitive to the substrate temperature. Amorphous and fcc-(Ti,Zr)2Ni phase predominate in the TiZrNi films when the substrate temperatures are in the range of 100–400 °C and 500–600 °C, respectively. The compositions of the TiZrNi films prepared under different substrate temperatures are very close to each other and the values are about Ti40Zr40Ni20. The surface and cross-section morphologies show that the TiZrNi films are compact and dense with good adhesion between films and substrates. The TiZrNi quasicrystal film obtained in this work is hopeful to be applied to tritium target film of neutron generators.