Extraordinary oxidation behavior of W-Zr thin-film metallic glasses: A route for tailoring functional properties of W-Zr-O films

The oxidation behavior of W-Zr thin-film metallic glasses (TFMGs) with 32, 48 and 61 at.% Zr, prepared by dc magnetron co-sputtering, was comprehensively studied after annealing in synthetic air. The study focuses on the effect of the annealing temperature (up to 600{\deg}C) on the oxidation process...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2024-12
Main Authors: Zeman, Petr, Červená, Michaela, Houška, Jiří, Haviar, Stanislav, Rezek, Jiří, Zuzjaková, Šárka
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amorphous materials
Annealing
Diffusion barriers
Diffusion layers
Diffusion rate
Magnetron sputtering
Mechanical properties
Metallic glasses
Optical properties
Oxidation
Oxygen
Oxygen content
Oxygen saturation
Thin films
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Summary:The oxidation behavior of W-Zr thin-film metallic glasses (TFMGs) with 32, 48 and 61 at.% Zr, prepared by dc magnetron co-sputtering, was comprehensively studied after annealing in synthetic air. The study focuses on the effect of the annealing temperature (up to 600{\deg}C) on the oxidation process, oxygen saturation, structure evolution, and their subsequent impact on electrical, optical and mechanical properties. The findings reveal that controlled oxidation transforms W-Zr TFMGs into amorphous ceramic W-Zr-O films with substoichiometric compositions. This is a consequence of an oxidation process that does not proceed through the formation of a stoichiometric oxide layer on the surface of W-Zr TFMGs, acting as a diffusion barrier against fast oxidation, but leads to a gradual incorporation of oxygen across the film volume due to thermodynamics factors. Higher Zr content accelerates the oxygen incorporation and its depth uniformity in the films. As a result, the mechanical properties are significantly enhanced achieving hardness values of up to 17.5 GPa at approximately 50% oxygen saturation. Simultaneously, the electrical and optical properties are finely tuned with the resistivity and the extinction coefficient (measured at 550 nm) ranging from 1.7 to 95.7x10-4 Ohm.cm and 0.28 to 1.06, respectively.
ISSN:2331-8422