Solidification of Au-Cu-Si alloys investigated by a combinatorial approach

Composition libraries of Au-Cu-Si films comprising 800 composition patches were fabricated through co-sputtering deposition from elemental targets. The gold composition varies between 47% (compositions are in atomic percentage) and 81%, copper between 8% and 40%, and silicon between 6% and 36% within the library. We designed and used a high-throughput optical characterization method to detect melting and solidification based on changes in the film’s contrast; further microscopy characterization reveals the microstructure. This approach reveals the composition dependence of the nucleation temperature and primary phase, which allows us to draw conclusions about glass forming ability and to identify bulk metallic glass forming compositions. Our solidification results suggest that the best glass forming composition coincides with the composition at which a transition from one primary phase to another occurs. We show that in general this transition is not at the eutectic composition but at the lowest nucleation temperature.