Fabricaton Of Granular Materials by High-Pressure Sputitering

Abstract

ABSTRACTA brief study of the fabrication of granular materials by high-pressure sputtering is presented. This method utilizes sputtering at high pressures (p > 100 mTorr) in a thermal gradient to produce nanoscale particles, which are then embedded in a matrix by normal sputtering (p ∼ a few mTorr). The shape, size and the degree of aggregationof these nanoscale crystals can be changed by varying such processing parameters as the sputtering gas pressure and the target voltage. Examples are presented of nanocomposite films containing Mo nanocrystals (grain size ranging from 3 to 20 nm ) in an Al matrix.