No CrossRef data available.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 March 2011
Pulsed laser deposition was used to obtain a metallic glass in thin film form using a Fe77Cr2B16Si5 amorphous ribbon as a target. The as-deposited films were annealed under the same conditions as the parent ribbon samples in order to compare their crystallization behaviors. Transmission Mössbauer measurements were performed to determine the crystallization products formed due to annealing of the Fe77Cr2B16Si5 ribbon. Conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy was used to obtain structural and magnetic information from the thin films as well as from the surface layers of the ribbons. Our Mössbauer study showed that crystallization behavior of the FeCrBSi thin films differs from both the surface and bulk crystallization of the ribbon. Crystallization occurs at lower annealing temperature for the thin film than for the bulk ribbon. Annealed films also contain iron oxides which are not observed in the crystallized ribbons. A formation of a very thin, protective oxide film at the surface of the ribbon is taken into account to explain the differences in the crystallization behavior of the films and ribbons.