Mechanical properties and microstructure of Zr-Ti-Ni thin film metallic glasses modified with minor SF6

The advantage of electronegativity of nitrogen has been utilized to improve the mechanical properties of thin film metallic glasses (TFMGs) by forming nanoclusters in the amorphous matrix. Despite the high electronegativity of fluorine, it has not been used as doping for TFMGs because of the toxicity of fluorine gas. In this work, we controlled the flow rate of the nontoxic SF6 during reactive sputtering to form fluorine-and sulfur-doped Zr-Ti-Ni TFMGs, and the microstructure of nanoclusters embedded in the amorphous matrix was obtained to result in improved mechanical properties of TFMGs. In addition, the potential bindings and compounds were investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The binding energy shift in the spectra provided the evidence of interaction between Zr and F to form nanoclusters. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.