In situ TEM studies of relaxation dynamics and crystal nucleation in thin film nanoglasses

Crystallization processes of glass-glass interfaces in sputtered CuZr thin film nanoglasses were directly studied using in situ heating experiments in a transmission electron microscope (TEM). By combining the in situ technique with a sophisticated symmetry analysis based on nanobeam diffraction patterns (NBDP) and electron correlation microscopy (ECM) to capture the relaxation dynamics in the nanoglass, correlations between excess volume and nucleation kinetics are attained on a microscopic scale. Particularly, glass-glass interfaces with their increased excess volume promote the onset of crystal nucleation.