Owing to their amorphous structure, metallic glasses (MGs) have emerged as a new class of materials with remarkable properties compared with their crystalline counterpart. Using physical vapor deposition methods such as sputtering, MGs can be prepared in the form of thin film metallic glasses (TFMGs). Thus, the microstructural control inherent to the sputtering process can be exploited to tailor the properties of TFMGs. Meanwhile, laser irradiation is a well-stablished technique for surface functionalization, allowing the generation of ripples known as laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS). However, a lack exists on the laser-induced surface functionalization of MGs, most of the studies are focused on the laser irradiation-crystalline material interaction.
Here, sputter-deposited Zr-Cu thin films, largely known for their good glass forming ability, are used as a model system and studied over a wide range of compositions. Our results are divided in two parts. First, we report on the influence that the energy of the sputtered atoms arriving at the substrate (controlled here through the deposition pressure) has on the structure, microstructure and properties of the deposited films. We demonstrate that increasing the deposition pressure, a composition-dependent transition from a denser to a columnar microstructure occurs. This microstructural transition directly affects the residual stress state as well as the electrical and optical properties of the deposited TFMGs. In particular, we show that there is a threshold in the deposition pressure below which the resistivity of the films remains constant. Second, we report on the laser-induced structural changes occurring at the surface and near-surface in Zr-Cu thin film metallic glasses. Hence, we study the influence that the laser irradiation has on the microstructure of patterned TFMGs. Transmission electron microscopy is used to study the evolution of the films structure, microstructure and composition after laser irradiation. In particular, we demonstrated the feasibility of laser treatment to obtain periodic surface structures of different geometries in TFMGs. Our results shed new light on the laser-amorphous material interaction process, opening a new avenue for future applications.