Nanocrystals grown in amorphous Cr and CrNi thin films

The structure of vacuum annealed amorphous sputtered Cr and CrNi (55:45) thin films has been studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron diffraction (TED). The thin films with thicknesses ranging from 150 to 600 Å were annealed while still on their alkali halide substrates under high vacuum at temperatures ranging from 200 to 370°C. The TEM and TED data permitted to establish the annealing conditions (temperature, duration), which lead to the nucleation and growth of nanosized crystals in the Cr and CrNi icosahedral glasses.