Anomalous behaviour of thin films of nickel and silver

Thin films of nickel deposited on silver have been reported to change on annealing in a way suggesting an alloy formation. The inverse experiment, in which thin silver films are deposited on nickel at pressures of 2 × 10 −5 torr and annealed at 280 °C, has given a similar result. Experiments performed in an ultra-high vacuum plant have not shown any changes in the films.