Growth, structure, and physical properties of single-phase metastable fcc Cu/sub 1-//sub x/Cr/sub x/ solid solutions

Journal Article · Sat Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1988 · J. Appl. Phys.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.341412· OSTI ID:6911262

McIntyre, D; Sundgren, J; Greene, J E

Single-phase fcc-structure metastable Cu/sub 1-//sub x/Cr/sub x/ alloys have been grown with Cr concentrations of up to 23 at. %. The films, which were typically 1.5--3 ..mu..m thick, were deposited by rf co-sputter deposition onto glass and oxidized-Si substrates at temperature between 55 and 180 /sup 0/C. The average grain size of alloys grown at 90 /sup 0/C was approx.100 nm. The lattice parameter of Cu/sub 1-//sub x/Cr/sub x/ was found to increase linearly with x resulting in an effective fcc Cr radius, in solution, of 0.1332 nm. approx.7% larger than the elemental bcc Cr bonding radius. The room-temperature resistivity of these alloys also increased linearly with x at a rate of 2.8 ..mu cap omega.. cm per at. % Cr. This high differential resistivity was due, in addition to simple alloys scattering, to scattering of conduction electrons into virtual bound states associated with the Cr atoms. Cu/sub 0.9/Cr/sub 0.1/ alloys were found to be stable for 24-h anneals at temperatures up to approx.300 /sup 0/C. From an analysis of x-ray diffraction peak positions and widths as a function of both growth and annealing temperatures, we conclude that the reaction path for the phase transition from the metastable to the equilibrium state involves first the precipitation of coherent fcc Cr particles followed by a transformation to bcc Cr as phase separation continues. The oxidation rate of Cu/sub 0.9/Cr/sub 0.1/ was found to be much less that that of pure Cu. At an annealing temperature of 250 /sup 0/C, the oxide thickness t/sub ox/ on Cu/sub 0.9/Cr/sub 0.1/ saturated at J25 nm after 1 h while t/sub ox/ on Cu continued to increase parabolically with time from approx.60 nm at 1 h to 140 nm at 4 h.

• Research Organization: Department of Materials Science, the Coordinated Science Laboratory, and the Material Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, 1101 W. Springfield Ave., Urbana, Illinois, 61801
• OSTI ID: 6911262
• Journal Information: J. Appl. Phys.; (United States), Journal Name: J. Appl. Phys.; (United States) Vol. 64:7; ISSN JAPIA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360101* -- Metals & Alloys-- Preparation & Fabrication
360102 -- Metals & Alloys-- Structure & Phase Studies
360104 -- Metals & Alloys-- Physical Properties
360105 -- Metals & Alloys-- Corrosion & Erosion
ALLOYS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHROMIUM ALLOYS
COHERENT SCATTERING
COPPER ALLOYS
COPPER BASE ALLOYS
CRYSTAL GROWTH
CRYSTAL LATTICES
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
CUBIC LATTICES
DATA
DIFFRACTION
DIMENSIONS
DISPERSIONS
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
ENERGY LEVELS
EXCITED STATES
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FCC LATTICES
FILMS
GRAIN SIZE
INFORMATION
LOW TEMPERATURE
METASTABLE STATES
MICROSTRUCTURE
MIXTURES
NUMERICAL DATA
OXIDATION
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SCATTERING
SIZE
SOLID SOLUTIONS
SOLUTIONS
THICKNESS
THIN FILMS
X-RAY DIFFRACTION