Abstract
A new combinatorial method to deposit metallic thin films using an arc plasma, combinatorial arc plasma deposition (CAPD), was applied to search for novel compositions of thin film metallic glasses (TFMGs) as new MEMS materials. The CAPD setup includes three arc plasma guns (APGs). with each gun shooting a pulse-like plasma of constituent elements at specific time intervals to deposit a compositionally-graded metallic thin film on an SiO_2 substrate. First, a Pd-based compositionally-graded thin film was deposited to search for the lowest resistivity composition of Pd-Cu-Si TFMGs. As the result, the Pd_<81>Cu_5Si_<14> at.% sample showed the lowest absolute resistivity of 64 μΩ・cm and a supercooled liquid region (SCLR) temperature range (ΔTx = Tx - Tg) of 50K. Next, we found out a novel Ru-Zr-Al TFMG by CAPD. Differential scanning calorimetry revealed that the two sputter-deposited samples Ru_<65>Zr_<30>Al_5 and Ru_<67>Zr_<25>Al_8 had a SCLR. Moreover, the samples exhibited superior mechanical properties.
