High-Throughput Characterization Method for Crystallization Temperature of Integrated Thin Film Amorphous Alloys Using Thermography

We introduce the high-throughput characterization of the crystallization temperature Tx of thin film amorphous alloys integrated into a thin film library. This characterization is achieved using thermography. A new thin film library is designed and fabricated using photolithography and a lift-off process. Using a homogeneous composition thin film library, the validity of the proposed method is confirmed. The crystallization of all samples can be detected simultaneously, and the measured Tx distribution is about 8 K. Three compositionally distributed thin film libraries of the Pd–Cu–Si alloy system were then fabricated using combinatorial arc plasma deposition (CAPD), and the Tx values of the samples on the three libraries were measured. In the three libraries, Tx for 285 amorphous samples could be measured, and there was an obvious distribution in Tx depending on the sample composition. At two selected compositions, the measured Tx values agree with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results within 8 K. In terms of throughput, the proposed method achieves a measurement time reduction of 66% compared with a conventional method using DSC. Consequently, the proposed method enables the high-throughput combinatorial characterization of the Tx of thin film amorphous alloys.