Features of the Initial Stage of the Formation of Ti-Zr-Ni Quasicrystalline Thin Films

Using the methods of X-ray diffraction, transmission and scanning microscopy, the features of the initial stage of the formation of the quasicrystalline phase in thin films of Ti-Zr-Ni are studied. The films were obtained by magnetron sputtering of a target of the composition Ti41Zr38.3Ni20.7 (at. %) with deposition on substrates at T  300 K and further vacuum annealing. It was established that immediately after deposition, the films are X-ray amorphous, nanostructured. An analysis of the radial distribution functions shows that immediately after deposition, the structural state of a disordered cluster, which is topologically close to icosahedral, prevails in the near atomic medium. It is concluded that the atoms are not arranged randomly, but form a “transitional” structure with an imperfect order like three shells of the Bergman cluster stacking using icosahedrons and dodecahedrons. Such a structure is a “prepared” nucleus for the further formation of the icosahedral phase upon heating. An analysis of the annealing results suggests that the qualitative nature of the transition from the pseudo-amorphous to the quasicrystalline phase and the scale of the transformations are determined by the annealing time and temperature, as well as by the film thickness. The smaller the thickness, the more the annealing processes are inhibited. It was shown that by annealing the films of a thickness of 6 μm or more at 500 C for more than 28 h, single-phase quasicrystalline coatings with a quasicrystallinity parameter aq of about 0.5245 nm can be obtained.