Amorphous and nanocrystalline sputtered Mg-Cu thin films

摘要

Binary Mg-Cu amorphous alloys were first fabricated in 1980s via liquid quenching. In this study, the Mg_(1-x)Cu_x (x varying from 38 at.% to 82 at.%) partially amorphous thin films are prepared via co-sputtering. Upon thermal annealing, the Mg_2Cu or MgCu_2 nanocrystalline phases are induced in the Mg-rich or Cu-rich thin films, respectively. Due to the presence of fine nanocrystalline Mg_2Cu or MgCu_2 particles in the Mg-Cu amorphous matrix, the as-sputtered thin films show satisfactory Young's modulus ～100 GPa and hardness ～4GPa.