Trifonov A S, Lubenchenko A V, Ketov S V, Taskaev S V, Louzguine-Luzgin D V
Quantum Technology Centre, Faculty of Physics, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, 119991, Russia.
Kotel'nikov Institute of Radioengineering and Electronics, (IRE RAS), Moscow, 125009, Russia.
Heliyon. 2019 Mar 29;5(3):e01424. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e01424. eCollection 2019 Mar.
Fe-based metallic glasses (also called amorphous alloys) are known to have high hardness and high wear resistance. Here we study and present a Fe-Nb amorphous material with an unusual type of electrical conductivity behavior. The electrical transport properties of Fe-Nb oxide layers were studied by measuring local current-voltage characteristics by the atomic-force microscopy technique. At certain voltage levels the samples containing native oxides showed clearly asymmetrical conductivity relative to polarity of the applied potential. Fe-Nb metallic glassy surface oxide film growth process was monitored at ambient conditions. The growth rate keeps constant during the initial 2.5 hours. After that the growth rate drastically decreases and becomes almost zero while the final oxide thickness is 1.0-1.5 nm. The Fe-Nb film sample annealed for 15 minutes at 300 °C demonstrates several times larger oxide thickness and becomes an insulator. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was used to characterize the oxidation states in the surface amorphous oxides. This material can be readily applied as inexpensive nanoscale tunnel diode operating at the commonly utilized voltage of ±5 V.
铁基金属玻璃（也称为非晶合金）以具有高硬度和高耐磨性而闻名。在此，我们研究并展示了一种具有异常导电行为类型的铁铌非晶材料。通过原子力显微镜技术测量局部电流 - 电压特性，研究了铁铌氧化物层的电输运性质。在某些电压水平下，含有原生氧化物的样品相对于施加电势的极性表现出明显的不对称导电性。在环境条件下监测了铁铌金属玻璃表面氧化膜的生长过程。在最初的2.5小时内生长速率保持恒定。之后生长速率急剧下降并几乎变为零，而最终氧化物厚度为1.0 - 1.5纳米。在300°C下退火15分钟的铁铌薄膜样品显示出几倍厚的氧化物厚度并变成绝缘体。利用X射线光电子能谱表征表面非晶氧化物中的氧化态。这种材料可以很容易地用作在±5V常用电压下工作的廉价纳米级隧道二极管。
