CALPHAD-Based Modelling of the Temperature-Composition-Structure Relationship during Physical Vapor Deposition of Mg-Ca Thin Films.

The temperature-dependent composition and phase formation during the physical vapor deposition (PVD) of Mg-Ca thin films is modeled using a CALPHAD-based approach. Considering the Mg and Ca sublimation fluxes calculated based on the vapor pressure obtained by employing thermochemical equilibrium calculations, the experimentally observed synthesis-temperature trends in the thin-film composition and phase formation were reproduced. The model is a significant step towards understanding how synthesis parameters control composition and, therefore, phase formation in the PVD of metals with high vapor pressures.

Effect of Growth Temperature and Atmosphere Exposure Time on Impurity Incorporation in Sputtered Mg, Al, and Ca Thin Films.

Impurities can be incorporated during thin film deposition, but also can originate from atmosphere exposure. As impurities can strongly affect the composition-structure-property relations in magnetron sputter deposited thin films, it is important to distinguish between both incorporation channels. Therefore, the impurity incorporation by atmosphere exposure into sputtered Mg, Al, and Ca thin films is systematically studied by a variation of the deposition temperatures and atmosphere exposure times. Deposition temperature variation results in morphological modifications explained by considering surface and bulk diffusion as well as grain boundary motion and evaporation. The film morphologies exhibiting the lowest oxygen concentrations, as measured by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, are obtained at a homologous temperature of 0.4 for both Mg and Al thin films. For Ca, preventing atmosphere exposure is essential to hinder impurity incorporation: By comparing the impurity concentration in Al-capped and uncapped thin films, it is demonstrated that Ca thin films are locally protected by Al-capping, while Mg (and Al) form native passivation layers. Furthermore, it can be learned that the capping (or self-passivation) efficiency in terms of hindering further oxidation of the films in atmosphere is strongly dependent on the underlying morphology, which in turn is defined by the growth temperature.

Atomistic structures of 〈0001〉 tilt grain boundaries in a textured Mg thin film.

Nanocrystalline Mg was sputter deposited onto an Ar ion etched Si {100} substrate. Despite an ∼6 nm amorphous layer found at the interface, the Mg thin film exhibits a sharp basal-plane texture enabled by surface energy minimization. The columnar grains have abundant 〈0001〉 tilt grain boundaries in between, most of which are symmetric with various misorientation angles. Up to ∼20° tilt angle, they are composed of arrays of equally-spaced edge dislocations. Ga atoms were introduced from focused ion beam milling and found to segregate at grain boundaries and preferentially decorate the dislocation cores. Most symmetric grain boundaries are type-1, whose boundary planes have smaller dihedral angles with {21̄1̄0} rather than {101̄0}. Atomistic simulations further demonstrate that type-2 grain boundaries, having boundary planes at smaller dihedral angles with {101̄0}, are composed of denser dislocation arrays and hence have higher formation energy than their type-1 counterparts. The finding correlates well with the dominance of type-1 grain boundaries observed in the Mg thin film.

Opportunities of combinatorial thin film materials design for the sustainable development of magnesium-based alloys.

Magnesium-based lightweight structural materials exhibit potential for energy savings. However, the state-of-the-art quest for novel compositions with improved properties through conventional bulk metallurgy is time, energy, and material intensive. Here, the opportunities provided by combinatorial thin film materials design for the sustainable development of magnesium alloys are evaluated. To characterise the impurity level of (Mg,Ca) solid solution thin films within grains and grain boundaries, scanning transmission electron microscopy and atom probe tomography are correlatively employed. It is demonstrated that control of the microstructure enables impurity levels similar to bulk-processed alloys. In order to substantially reduce time, energy, and material requirements for the sustainable development of magnesium alloys, we propose a three-stage materials design strategy: (1) Efficient and systematic investigation of composition-dependent phase formation by combinatorial film growth. (2) Correlation of microstructural features and mechanical properties for selected composition ranges by rapid alloy prototyping. (3) Establishment of synthesis-microstructure-property relationships by conventional bulk metallurgy.

A Proposal for a Composite with Temperature-Independent Thermophysical Properties: HfV2-HfV2O7.

The HfV2-HfV2O7 composite is proposed as a material with potentially temperature-independent thermophysical properties due to the combination of anomalously increasing thermoelastic constants of HfV2 with the negative thermal expansion of HfV2O7. Based on literature data, the coexistence of both a near-zero temperature coefficient of elasticity and a coefficient of thermal expansion is suggested for a composite with a phase fraction of approximately 30 vol.% HfV2 and 70 vol.% HfV2O7. To produce HfV2-HfV2O7 composites, two synthesis pathways were investigated: (1) annealing of sputtered HfV2 films in air to form HfV2O7 oxide on the surface and (2) sputtering of HfV2O7/HfV2 bilayers. The high oxygen mobility in HfV2 is suggested to inhibit the formation of crystalline HfV2-HfV2O7 composites by annealing HfV2 in air due to oxygen-incorporation-induced amorphization of HfV2. Reducing the formation temperature of crystalline HfV2O7 from 550 °C, as obtained upon annealing, to 300 °C using reactive sputtering enables the synthesis of crystalline bilayered HfV2-HfV2O7.

Synthesis of Intermetallic (Mg1-x,Alx)2Ca by Combinatorial Sputtering.

The synthesis-composition-structure relationship in the Mg-Ca-Al system is studied using combinatorial magnetron sputtering. With increasing deposition temperature, a drastic decrease in Mg concentration is obtained. This behavior can be understood based on density functional theory calculations yielding a desorption energy of 1.9 eV/atom for Mg from a hexagonal Mg nanocluster which is far below the desorption energy of Mg from a Mg2Ca nanocluster (3.4 eV/atom) implying desorption of excess Mg during thin film growth at elevated temperatures. Correlative structural and chemical analysis of binary Mg-Ca thin films suggests the formation of hexagonal Mg2Ca (C14 Laves phase) in a wide Mg/Ca range from 1.7 to 2.2, expanding the to date reported stoichiometry range. Pronounced thermally-induced desorption of Mg is utilized to synthesize stoichiometric (Mg1-x,Alx)2Ca thin films by additional co-sputtering of elemental Al, exhibiting a higher desorption energy (6.7 eV/atom) compared to Mg (3.4 eV/atom) from Mg2Ca, which governs its preferred incorporation during synthesis. X-ray diffraction investigations along the chemical gradient suggest the formation of intermetallic C14 (Mg1-x,Alx)2Ca with a critical aluminum concentration of up to 23 at.%. The introduced synthesis strategy, based on the thermally-induced desorption of weakly bonded species, and the preferential incorporation of strongly bonded species, may also be useful for solubility studies of other phases within this ternary system as well as for other intermetallics with weakly bonded alloying constituents.

From qualitative to quantitative description of the anomalous thermoelastic behavior of V, Nb, Ta, Pd and Pt.

To study the anomalous thermoelastic behavior of bcc V, Nb, Ta as well as fcc Pd and Pt a density functional theory (DFT) based model is used, which allows for the calculation of the elastic constant [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] as a function of temperature. Available experimental [Formula: see text] trends are correctly reproduced indicating that the electronic structure mechanisms enabling anomalous behavior are captured by the model. A DFT based correlative investigation between V, Nb, Ta, Pd and Pt with anomalous thermoelastic properties and Mo and Cu with ordinary behavior reveals a high density of states (DOS) at the Fermi level to be a necessary but not sufficient condition for an anomalous thermoelastic behavior. In addition, anomalous metals in contrast to ordinary metals reallocate electronic states in the vicinity of the Fermi level upon lattice distortion, causing an increase in bond strength as identified by crystal orbital Hamilton population (COHP) analysis. Hence, we have identified the combination of high DOS and electronic reallocation upon lattice distortion to be the physical origin for anomalous thermoelastic behavior in metals. The absence of an anomaly for [Formula: see text]-type distortion in V, Nb, Ta, Pd and Pt is suggested to be due to the less pronounced reallocation of states compared to [Formula: see text]-type distortion.

Elastic properties of amorphous T 0.75Y0.75B14 (T = Sc, Ti, V, Y, Zr, Nb) and the effect of O incorporation on bonding, density and elasticity (T' = Ti, Zr).

We have systematically studied the effect of transition metal valence electron concentration (VEC) of amorphous T 0.75Y0.75B14 (a-T 0.75Y0.75B14, T = Sc, Ti, V, Y, Zr, Nb) on the elastic properties, bonding, density and electronic structure using ab initio molecular dynamics. As the transition metal VEC is increased in both periods, the bulk modulus increases linearly with molar- and mass density. This trend can be understood by a concomitant decrease in cohesive energy. T' = Ti and Zr were selected to validate the predicted data experimentally. A-Ti0.74Y0.80B14 and a-Zr0.75Y0.75B14 thin films were synthesized by high power pulsed magnetron sputtering. Chemical composition analysis revealed the presence of up to 5 at.% impurities, with O being the largest fraction. The measured Young's modulus values for a-Ti0.74Y0.80B14 (301 ± 8 GPa) and a-Zr0.75Y0.75B14 (306 ± 9 GPa) are more than 20% smaller than the predicted ones. The influence of O incorporation on the elastic properties for these selected systems was theoretically studied, exemplarily in a-Ti0.75Y0.75B12.75O1.25. Based on ab initio data, we suggest that a-Ti0.75Y0.75B14 exhibits a very dense B network, which is partly severed in a-Ti0.75Y0.75B12.75O1.25. Upon O incorporation, the average coordination number of B and the molar density decrease by 9% and 8%, respectively. Based on these data the more than 20% reduced Young's modulus obtained experimentally for films containing impurities compared to the calculated Young's modulus for a-Ti0.75Y0.75B14 (without incorporated oxygen) can be rationalized. The presence of oxygen impurities disrupts the strong B network causing a concomitant decrease in molar density and Young's modulus. Very good agreement between the measured and calculated Young's modulus values is obtained if the presence of impurities is considered in the calculations. The implications of these findings are that prediction efforts regarding the elastic properties of amorphous borides containing oxygen impurities on the at.% level are flawed without taking the presence of impurities into account.