The PLD method allows to produce multi-layers materials. Interest in pulsed laser deposition (PLD), as a technology producing thin layers of complex materials is growing rapidly in recent years. Condensation from the vapor phase at rapid solidification favors the nano-structure formation in the thin layers.
First attempts have been made to produce multi-layers composite. Amorphous material is treated as a matrix. Materials, which were used for coatings, were:
- amorphous material: Ti25at.% Zr20at.% Ni27.5at.% Cu27.5at.%,
- quasicrystals: Al65at.%Cu23at.%Fe12at.%.
Amorphous materials have high elasticity and in the compression test they exhibit plastic features. This is the reason that these materials are used as a matrix.
As a hard phase, quasicrystals have been deposited. Quasicrystals have a periodic structure, however they have strong diffraction peaks. They are characterized by icosahedral symmetry (5- rotation axis symmetry).
Amorphous and quasicrystalline thin layers were fabricated by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) using an excimer, ArF laser (Lambda = 193 nm). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) observations have been done to examine the topography and chemical composition of coatings. Texture analyses were carried out for the deposited amorphous as well as for the quasicrystalline substrate. Application of the pseudo-position sensitive detector in texture examination allows drawing the pole figures of residual stresses.