In this article, we provide a perspective overview of the iconic properties, recent application-oriented research, and future commercialization opportunities of thin film metallic glasses (TFMGs). A brief review on the preparation and fundamental properties of TFMGs will be given first. TFMGs possess attractive properties such as corrosion resistance, extremely low roughness, and antibacterial characteristics, which give rise to various applications in biomedical devices, sensors, and tribology. Therefore, a number of our representative works will be reviewed to showcase the benefits of TFMGs over traditional materials and processing in these applications. In addition, new perspectives in the research and development of TFMGs and opportunities for commercialization will also be highlighted.

This letter reports superior properties of Ru- and $\mathrm{Ru}{\mathrm{N}}_X$ -bearing Cu films deposited by cosputtering on barrierless Si substrates. After annealing at temperatures up to $680°\mathrm{C}$ for $1\mathrm{h}$ , low resistivity of $\sim 3\mu \Omega \mathrm{cm}$ and minimal leakage currents as well as no detectable reaction at the $\mathrm{Cu}∕\mathrm{Si}$ interface have confirmed the excellent thermal stability of these Cu(Ru) and $\mathrm{Cu}\left(\mathrm{Ru}{\mathrm{N}}_X\right)$ films. Furthermore, the highly stable $\mathrm{Cu}\left(\mathrm{Ru}{\mathrm{N}}_X\right)$ film exhibits an outstanding adhesion property, proving to be a very promising candidate for the barrierless Cu metallization.

This paper reports on the use of Zr-based (Zr₅₃Cu₃₃Al₉Ta₅) thin film metallic glass (TFMG) for the coating of syringe needles and compares the results with those obtained using titanium nitride and pure titanium coatings. TFMG coatings were shown to reduce insertion forces by ∼66% and retraction forces by ∼72%, when tested using polyurethane rubber block. The benefits of TFMG-coated needles were also observed when tested using muscle tissue from pigs. In nano-scratch tests, the TFMG coatings achieved a coefficient of friction (COF) of just ∼0.05, which is about one order of magnitude lower than those of other coatings. Finite-element modeling also indicates a significant reduction in injection and retraction forces. The COF can be attributed to the absence of grain boundaries in the TFMG coating as well as a smooth surface morphology and low surface free energy.