Thermal, mechanical and electrical properties of Pd-based thin-film metallic glass

As a kind of amorphous alloy, metallic glasses are suitable materials for micromachines because their size effect is considered to be absent. However. neither the fabrication process nor the physical properties of thin-film metallic glasses (TFMGs) have yet been examined. In this paper. Pd-based (Pd76Cu7Si17, atomic composition) TFMG was first fabricated by an RF-magnetron sputtering method. The existence of a supercooled liquid region (SCLR) and the thermal stability with respect to crystallization were measured by a differential scanning calorimeter (I)SQ. The existence of the SCLR was reconfirmed by a thermomechanical analyzer (TMA). The hardness of Pd-TFMG was measured by a mechanical testing machine for micro-sized specimens (MMT-2000), while the Young's modulus was measured by a MMT2000 in the bending mode as well as by a TMA in the tensile mode. The resistivity of Pd-TFMG was tested by the four-point probe method. Finally, the influences of deposition conditions were discussed and the physical properties of TFMG were compared with those of Pd-based bulk metallic glass.