R e s e a r c h Projects

Crystallographic and Electronic Structure of (Meta)Stable Laves Phases in the Systems Nb-TM(-Al)
with TM = Cr, Mn, Fe, Co
D. Fischer and M. Jansen

The synthesis of the Laves phases occurs via the low temperature atomic beam deposition (LT-ABD) method. This technique allows to disperse the metals at an atomic level and deposit them in an appropriate ratio onto a cooled substrate (see Fig. 1). Such randomly 'frozen' mixtures of atoms represent an ideal starting point for the in-situ investigation of the temperature-dependent phase formations and relations. Thus, a very effective path towards the preparation of metastable intermetallic phases is available. The focus of the project is on the characterization of the crystallographic and electronic structure of metastable Laves phases for each model system.



Fig. 1: Preparation chamber for Laves phases: 1) sample holder with substrate, 2) electron bean evaporator, 3) effusion cell, 4) window, 5) gate valve to pump.

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