Study of grain growth and thermal stability of nanocrystalline RuAl thin films deposited by magnetron sputtering

► Thermal stability and grain growth kinetics of RuAl thin films were studied. ► Annealing temperatures between 650 and 750 °C were used for the study. ► Grain size (GS) was determined by image analysis. ► GS was also calculated using X-ray and electron backscatter diffraction measurements. ► The activation energy for grain growth in nanocrystalline RuAl was also estimated.