Effect of Tantalum Addition on Properties of Cu–Zr–Based Thin Film Metallic Glasses (TFMGs)

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Achache et al. demonstrated the deposition of Cu-Zr-Ta ternary thin films metallic glasses (TFMG) by using DC magnetron sputtering of pure metallic targets. This study sought to fill the gap in the current literature regarding the effect of the addition of tantalum into Cu-Zr TFMG. The authors demonstrated the advantages of introducing tantalum into the thin film in terms of the overall mechanical and thermal properties of the eventual film. More clearly, the addition of tantalum increases the hardness, Young’s modulus, and thermal stability of the film. This study is pretty interesting and I believe that it will be attractive to researchers and scientists working in similar fields. However, the current manuscript still lacks some important information that needs to be addressed before it can be reconsidered for publication.

1. It would be good if the authors could provide more justification on why tantalum was chosen instead of any other materials. I believe that there are still plenty of materials that have not been tested and incorporated into Cu-Zr TFMG and thus, the current reasoning seems weak.
2. The experimental details should be reported using past tense instead of present tense. Please make the necessary changes.
3. It would be good if the authors are able to incorporate XPS and TEM characterization data in the current manuscript to verify the hypothesis made on the thin film microstructures.

Author Response

Reviewer 1

Reviewer 2 Report

The article analysis the tantalum impact on Cu-Zr films. The article does not have serious flaws but I have some additional remarks which i hope will be addressed:

Introduction section is very poor and has to be done more thoroughly.

I missed Material section

Figure 1 is not informative, please show on it what we see.

Proofreading would be beneficial for this study.

Supplement Conclusions section with a possible application field of the obtained films

The peak temperature in figure 6 are not seen. please consider discussing them in the text or adding them in the Figure.

Author Response

Reviewer 2

Reviewer 3 Report

The article by Sofiane Achache and Frederic Sanchette, shows a nicely conducted experiment on the inclusion of tantalum on the general properties of metallic glasses (Cu-Zr). I can recommend this manuscript for publication after some minor remarks.

• References seem a bit outdated, please try to find more recent studies or follow up articles.
• Authors forgot to include table 1 and table 3 in the article. (Not to mention the missing Table 2 in the text). Please readdress this numbering issue.
• Please include a load vs displacement image, with some of the most representative indents. One might find some changes in plastic deformation trend in the films.
• I believe that in the thermal tests and XRD diffractograms, the starting point is R.T, not Zero Celsius?
• Please reorganize figure 5 in a 2x2 panel, with a lower single image. The current presentation is too chaotic.
• Re-check composition and values reported trough out the article. There are several discrepancies in numbers.
• Please include the DSC measurements of the sample without tantalum.

Author Response

Reviewer 3

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

I am afraid the authors have not addressed any of my comments.

Author Response

Reviewer 1

1). It would be good if the authors could provide more justification on why tantalum was chosen instead of any other materials. I believe that there are still plenty of materials that have not been tested and incorporated into Cu-Zr TFMG and thus, the current reasoning seems weak.

Yes, thank you for this relevant remark. Authors modified the introduction and tried to add elements to motivate Ta choice.

2). The experimental details should be reported using past tense instead of present tense. Please make the necessary changes.

Authors made the changes according to this remark.

3). It would be good if the authors are able to incorporate XPS and TEM characterization data in the current manuscript to verify the hypothesis made on the thin film microstructures.

We fully agree with this important remark. Unfortunately, we do not have these charctérisation techniques in our small laboratory. We currently have contacts to carry out these analyses in this period.

However, we are planning analyzes of the structure and microstructure of these alloys.

It is true that we need to definitely confirm our results/explanations.

Reviewer 2 Report

Authors have answered all my questions.

Author Response

Reviewer 2

1). Introduction section is very poor and has to be done more thoroughly.

Thank you for this relevant remark. Authors modified the introduction and tried to add elements.

2). I missed Material section.

We are not sure to understand this remark. If introduction is concerned, changes have been done in the revised version.

3). Proofreading would be beneficial for this study.

Yes, we have reread the paper to make shape corrections for the latest version.

4). Supplement Conclusions section with a possible application field of the obtained films.

These films can be potentially used for structural and functional applications, in particular for small-scale applications, such as nano- and micro-electromechanical systems (NEMS and MEMS). It has been added in the revised version.

5). The peak temperature in figure 6 are not seen. please consider discussing them in the text or adding them in the Figure.

Yes, thank you for that. The peak temperature is added in the text and figure 6.

6). Figure 1 is not informative, please show on it what we see.

We changed the legend in the revised version.

Reviewer 3 Report

• Indeed, what I meant was to please add the DSC measurements WITH Tantalum. My apologies.
• Authors decided not to include the load vs displacement curves, what is the reason for that?.
• Additionally, I don't see the elastic measurements that the authors refer too.
• No changes in Figure presentation as suggested.
• I believe the authors did not perform a correct amendment of their manuscript and I can not recommend it for publishing in this form. 

Author Response

Reviewer 3

1). References seem a bit outdated, please try to find more recent studies or follow up articles.

Thank you for this relevant remark. Some recent references were added in the revised version.

2). Authors forgot to include table 1 and table 3 in the article. (Not to mention the missing Table 2 in the text). Please readdress this numbering issue.

We are sorry about that. We took this remark into account.

3). Please include a load vs displacement image, with some of the most representative indents. One might find some changes in plastic deformation trend in the films.

It’s true, we added a figure and a paragraph concerning the plastic deformation ratio.

4). I believe that in the thermal tests and XRD diffractograms, the starting point is R.T, not Zero Celsius?

Yes, it’s right. Figure 5 is changed in the last version.

5). Please reorganize figure 5 in a 2x2 panel, with a lower single image. The current presentation is too chaotic.

We modified this figure according to this remark.

6). Re-check composition and values reported trough out the article. There are several discrepancies in numbers.

Thank you for this remark. We are sorry about that and corrections are done in the revised version.

7). Please include the DSC measurements of the sample without tantalum.

We are not sure to understand. The dsc measurements of the sample without Ta were already included.