Formation and properties of island aluminum-iron alloy nanometer films at ion-assisted deposition on glass

Abstract

In this work the morphology, topography and wetting of nanometer films of lightly doped Al‒1.5 at. % Fe alloy depending on the mode of deposition on glass substrates using a resonant ion source of vacuum electric arc plasma were studied. The coating deposition rate was 0.1-0.2 nm/min. Analysis of film growth and nanoscale irregularities on the surface of films were carried out using scanning probe microscopy. Using sessile drop method, the measurements of contact angles of the films were carried out. Quantitative relations correlating the surface microgeometry of Al-Fe alloy films to conditions of passive (U=0) and ion-assisted (U=3.0 kV) deposition modes have been established. The detected patterns of the evolution of submicron cone-like film morphology during ion-assisted deposition allowed us to determine that the wetting of films with distilled water has a heterogeneous character and is described by the Cassi-Baxter model.