Thermodynamics of binary alloy thin films

The thermodynamics of ordering binary alloy thin films with non-neutral or ‘polarizing’ boundary conditions is studied within the frame of an Ising-like Hamiltonian with nearest-neighbor interactions. The finite-temperature behavior is obtained by means of the pair approximation of the cluster variation method which is the lowest approximation that takes into account short-range correlations. The analysis focuses on the dependence upon film …