CRYSTALLIZATION OF AMORPHOUS RARE EARTH-IRON AND TRANSITION METAL-BORON THIN-FILMS

Ultrahigh vacuum vapour-deposited amorphous films were investigated using transmission electron microscopy. We studied the amorphous-to-crystalline transition in alloys of the rare earth (RE)-iron system and of the transition metal (TM)-boron system over wide composition ranges. All as-deposited films possessed a columnar microstructure. The transition to the crystalline modification was quite different in the two types of alloy films. In the RE-Fe films RE oxides were formed preferentially in the low density material between the columns and iron-rich clusters precipitated via a nucleation and growth mechanism. In the TM-B films a variety of distinct crystallization mechanisms was found depending on the alloy system and its composition. © 1979.