Crystalline and quasicrystalline phases formed by interdiffusion in evaporated Al–Mn thin films

Abstract

Bilayer and multilayer thin-film systems of Al–Mn were evaporated onto carbon foils prepared on Mo grids. The Al/Mn ratios were chosen to provide enough Mn for the second phase formation. Heat treatments were carried out in situ in a high-voltage electron microscope equipped with an ultrahigh vacuum specimen chamber. The appearance, growth, and transformation of the intermetallics were directly observed and studied by electron diffraction. Beside the crystalline phases the quasicrystalline i and T phases were also produced. The connection between the layer structures and the types of the intermetallics formed in the course of the heat treatments are shown.