Impact of Microstructure of Nanoscale Magnetron Sputtered Ru/Al Multilayers on Thermally Induced Phase Formation

In this study, we report on phase formation and microstructure evolution in multiscale magnetron sputtered Ru/Al multilayers upon thermal annealing vacuum at slow heating rates of 10 K/min. By specifically adjusting the design as-deposited multilayers, certain desired phases can be tuned. We demonstrate that synthesis single RuAl thin films is possible a very controlled manner solid state only via activation without initiating self-propagating exothermic reactions multilayers. To investigate sequences resulting microstructures, were designed sputtering with systematic variation bilayer modulation periods subsequent annealing. Thin samples characterized by situ high-temperature XRD, TEM imaging diffraction. It shown different appear strong correlation length. Depending multilayer design, toward single-phase happens as either multi-step or single-step event. particular, below critical threshold period, suppressed, target obtained pronounced growth preferred orientation. This finding may versatile for targeted intermetallic phases, contributing to further understanding such nanoscale systems.