Production of High-Quality Thin-Film Samples of Al-Cu-Fe Icosahedral Quasicrystal

Thin-film samples of Al-Cu-Fe icosahedral quasicrystal have been successfully produced by vacuum deposition with an electron beam evaporation apparatus followed by annealing. Coating the film surfaces with alumina has been found to be essential in avoiding compositional change during annealing. X-ray diffractometry and electrical resistivity measurements have shown that the annealed sample having the icosahedral phase is of high quality.