Attempt at Crystallization of a Nanocrystalline Structure in Thin Films of Fe73.5Cu1Nb3Si13.5B9 Alloy

An attempt is made to crystallize thin amorphous films of Fe73.5Cu1Nb3Si13.5B9 alloy in a nano-crystalline structure. Thin films are prepared by the flash evaporation technique onto glass and rock-salt substrates for electric resistance measurements and for structural studies, respectively. Observations of the changes in resistance on heating of the as-deposited films allow us to investigate the changes in their structure. The electron diffraction and electron microscopic observations show the structural state of the samples as-deposited and after annealing for 10 min at Ta1 = 633 K and Ta2 = 823 K. The results obtained indicate that the nanocrystalline structure can be formed in thin films of the studied alloy during annealing at Ta2, if the as-deposited films were amorphous.