Electron diffraction study on thin films around Au3Mn

Gold-manganese alloys with a composition in the vicinity of Au3Mn are studied by electron diffraction on vacuum deposited thin films. Besides the monoclinic I and II phases, a new antiphase structure “monoclinic III” based on the DO22 structure is found at a composition about Au13Mn4. The structure is closely related to that of the monoclinic II, only the combination between the antiphase planes and the shift vectors being different. The order of the phase appearance is the monoclinic II → I → III with increasing gold content. Between each of these structures, the direction and interspot distance of linear arrays passing through the basic DO22 position vary stepwise, which presents modified structures of the monoclinic II and III having different antiphase planes and domain sizes.