Premium
Formation of a tetragonal Cu 3 Au alloy at gold/copper interfaces
Author(s) -
Sarkar Subhendu,
Datta Alokmay,
Chakraborty Purushottam,
Satpati Biswarup
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/sia.1603
Subject(s) - copper , alloy , tetragonal crystal system , sputtering , transmission electron microscopy , materials science , amorphous solid , sputter deposition , high resolution transmission electron microscopy , analytical chemistry (journal) , electron diffraction , diffraction , crystallography , metallurgy , chemistry , crystal structure , thin film , nanotechnology , optics , physics , chromatography
A gold–copper alloy with a nominal composition of Cu 3 Au but with a tetragonal ( c = 4 a ) structure is observed to form at Au/Cu interfaces of gold/copper multilayers deposited on amorphous substrates by d.c. magnetron sputtering. The formation of this non‐equilibrium structure (tentatively D 0 23 ) under‐ambient conditions is detected by secondary ion mass spectrometry, x‐ray diffraction and high‐resolution cross‐sectional transmission electron microscopy. Co‐sputtering of Au and Cu under similar conditions produces only conventional fcc Cu 3 Au alloy phases, suggesting that interfacial confinement plays a significant role in producing the novel Cu 3 Au alloy phase in gold/copper multilayers. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.