Synthesis of amorphous Zr-Cu alloys by magnetron co-sputtering

In the last few years amorphous metal alloys were under intensive research because of their specific properties. We studied ZrxCu1-x amorphous films co-condensed by magnetron sputtering in relatively high vacuum, so thermalization of transported particles would not have taken place, i.e. the substrate is reached by enhanced energy particles (10-30 eV). X-ray diffraction methods were applied for studying a glass forming range vs. substrate temperature in films of ZrxCu1-x deposited on different temperature substrates (100 degrees C, 200 degrees C, 300 degrees C, 400 degrees C, 470 degrees C). The dependences of electrical conductance, light reflectance and spectral properties of reflection in the same composition ZrxCu1-x coatings from a coating phase were studied. From the results of the current work it can be concluded that using simultaneous Zr and Cu magnetron deposition in a relatively high vacuum amorphous ZrxCu1-x coatings can be obtained in a wide composition and substrate temperature range.