RuAl Thin Film Deposition by DC Magnetron Sputtering

The intermetallic transition metal B2 structured aluminide RuAl is a candidate material for use in various applications, including microelectronics and structural materials under demanding conditions, for example as oxidation and corrosion resistant materials or microelectronics. In contrast to other B2 transition metal aluminides, which usually suffer from brittle material behavior at room temperature, RuAl exhibits comparatively good room temperature ductility, in combination with further promising properties. Therefore, RuAl thin films are attracting interest as potential protective and functional surface engineering materials. The synthesis of RuAl thin films by means of physical vapor deposition, especially magnetron sputtering, is however complex and utilizes co‐deposition and multilayer from elemental sputtering targets and subsequent annealing procedures. In this work we describe an alternative route towards single phase B2 structured RuAl thin films by non‐reactive DC magnetron sputter deposition at low substrate temperature from a powdermetallurgically manufactured Ru50Al50 compound target. We studied the influence of the deposition parameters on the constitution, microstructure and selected properties of RuAl thin films. It is shown that especially the Ar process gas pressure has a significant impact on their composition and morphology. X‐ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy with selected area electron diffraction indicate that the films are single‐phased RuAl with B2 structure. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.