Pulsed ion beam annealing of TiAu alloys

The formation of amorphous TiAu alloys is investigated using pulsed ion beam annealing (PIBA). The samples consist of thin multilayers of Ti and Au. It is found that samples with compositions in a two-phase region of the TiAu phase diagram can be rendered amorphous whereas those with compositions corresponding to congruently melting compounds can not. The results suggest that metallic glass formation induced by pulsed ion beam annealing involves melt-quenching. A comparison between ion mixing proccsses and pulsed ion beam annealing is also made.