Structure of an amorphous TiSi alloy formed by thermal reaction

The amorphous nature of a-Ti60Si40 formed by interdiffusion of sputtered TiSi multilayers has been confirmed by the calculation of a radial distribution function (RDF) from scattering patterns obtained by electron diffraction. This material shows the characteristics of an amorphous metallic alloy with a coordination number of 11.4. The atomic pair distribution function shows some similarity to the crystalline silicide closest to it in composition - Ti5Si4. The likely presence of chemical short-range order in the alloy is consistent with the driving force for the formation of the amorphous state by interdiffusion in the TiSi system, which is the formation of TiSi bonds. © 1991.