Plasma deposition of amorphous metal alloys

Rapid solidification, sputtering and electroless chemical deposition have been used to produce amorphous metal alloys which possess excellent corrosion and abrasion resistance. This paper discusses a new technique for obtaining amorphous metal alloy coatings. Plasma decomposition of Ni(CO)4 and PH3 in argon and hydrogen carrier gases [Ni(CO4/PH3--8/1] yielded films that were black and silver, respectively, in appearance. Both films were amorphous as determined by transmission electron microscopy. Films deposited using a hydrogen carrier gas were three orders of magnitude more conductive than those deposited using an argon carrier gas. Analysis of both films using electron microprobe analysis and inductively-coupled plasma spectroscopy showed an enrichment of P in the films over the P content in the plasma gas mixtures. Reducing the P content of the plasma gas mixture [Ni(CO)4/PH3--17/11 yielded crystalline films with no P enrichment. The grain size in these films was --60Δ as determined by x-ray line-broadening