Reproducibility of magnetron-sputter co-deposited ZrCu metallic glasses

In this work, the reproducibility of the magnetron sputtering technique was studied for more than three years using three sets of metallic glass samples grown by co-deposition of Zr and Cu. The reproducibility of metallic glasses or amorphous thin films is particularly critical due to their sensitivity to composition and structure. The analysis was made considering composition and deposition rate variation among the three sets and among the samples with different compositions of Zr_xCu_1-x and pure Zr and Cu. The composition was measured using Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy and Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy, and the deposition rate was analyzed by Atomic Force Microscopy. The electron Pair Distribution Function was used to study the structural variation among the three sets and the samples in each set. Finally, the oxygen incorporation in the samples was investigated by electron Pair Distribution Function, Energy Loss Spectroscopy, and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy to understand the oxygen profile incorporation. The analysis of the sets of samples indicated that reproducibility should be improved in the sputtering process of ZrCu alloys. Some improvements to increase the reproducibility of the sputtering technique were suggested.