Microstructural features and orientation correlations of non-modulated martensite in Ni–Mn–Ga epitaxial thin films

Abstract Epitaxially grown thin films with nominal composition Ni50Mn30Ga20 and thickness 1.5 μm were prepared on MgO(1 0 0) substrate with a Cr buffer layer by DC magnetron sputtering. The surface layer microstructures of the as-deposited thin films consist of non-modulated (NM) martensite plates with tetragonal structure at ambient temperature, which can be classified into the low and high relative contrast zones of clustered plates (i.e. plate colonies) with parallel or near-parallel inter-plate interface traces in secondary electron images. Orientation analyses by electron backscatter diffraction revealed that individual NM plates are composed of alternately distributed thicker and thinner lamellar variants with (1 1 2)Tetr compound twin relationship and coherent interlamellar interfaces. In each plate colony, there are four distinct plates in terms of the crystallographic orientation of the thicker lamellar variants and therefore, in total, eight orientation variants. For the low relative contrast zones, both thicker and thinner lamellar variants in adjacent plates are distributed symmetrically across their inter-plate interfaces (along the substrate edges). At the atomic level, there are no unbalanced interfacial misfits and height misfits, resulting in long and straight inter-plate interfaces with homogeneous contrast. However, in the high relative contrast zones, the thicker and thinner lamellar variants in adjacent plates are oriented asymmetrically across their inter-plate interfaces (at ∼45° to the substrate edges). Significant atomic misfits appear in the vicinity of the inter-plate interfaces and in the film normal direction. The former result in bending of the inter-plate interfaces, and the latter give rise to the high relative contrast between adjacent plates.