Production of thin films of metastable materials by cross-beam pulsed laser deposition

Cross-beam pulsed laser deposition (CBPLD) makes possible simultaneous ablation of two targets of different materials and intermixing of the materials directly in the laser plasma. The CBPLD was applied to deposit Fe-Al and Co-Cu metastable alloy films of different compositions. Transmission electron microscopy investigations have shown that the Fe-Al alloy films deposited by means of simultaneous ablation of Al and Fe are amorphous in the range of compositions from approximately 75 to 87 at. % Al. Films with compositions out of this range have a polycrystalline structure. No evidences of material separation were found in co-deposited Co-Cu films with compositions from 25 to 55 at. % Co by TEM studies, while these metals are immiscible according to the equilibrium phase diagram. Results of EXAFS measurements of a Co-Cu sample with 28 at. % Co allow to assume that the film contains Co clusters of several atoms size in a Cu matrix.