A survey on crystallization kinetic behavior of direct current magnetron sputter deposited NiTi thin films

摘要

The purpose of this work is to assess the crystallization kinetic properties of the direct current (DC) magnetron sputtered NiTi thin films. NiTi thin films were deposited on NaCl substrate using a magnetron sputtering method. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was employed at different heating rates of 5, 20, and 30 K min-1 to investigate the crystallization kinetic behavior. Only one dominant peak emerged during amorphous-crystalline transformation at different heating rates. The activation energy values during crystallization were 321.81, 288.86, and 234.56 kJ mol-1 at heating rates of 5, 20, and 30 K min-1, respectively. The average value of the Avrami exponent for the studied films was 2.2. The predominant mechanisms governing the nucleation and growth processes were continuous nucleation and diffusion-controlled two-dimensional growth. We envisage that the results of this systematic work will create new paradigms and opportunities in industrial-scale applications of NiTi films in microelectrochemical systems.