Nanoglasses: a trail towards uncharted regions of vitreous materials and their properties?

• Gerhard Wilde and
• Horst Hahn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2026, 17, 1047–1062, doi:10.3762/bjnano.17.72

• , and stability are identified, emphasizing opportunities for integrating nanoglasses into advanced functional thin-film systems. Keywords: columnar thin-film nanoglasses; glass–glass interfaces; mechanical and functional properties; nanoglass; stability; Introduction The advancement of civilization

• -depositing the different elements do not sufficiently overlap to generate the desired alloy composition. A versatile alternative is presented by depositing columnar thin-film nanoglasses from the gas phase onto substrates. Recently, the validity of this approach has been demonstrated for a Cu–Zr nanoglass

• that has been prepared by sputter deposition through columnar growth under conditions that avoid crystal formation [17][49][51]. Columnar thin-film nanoglasses have the additional advantage that the glass–glass interfaces can be aligned edge-on to a local probe, for example, a focused electron beam in