  We report the results of the Ni-based bulk metallic glass structural
evolution and crystallization behavior in situ investigation. The X-ray
diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), nano-beam
diffraction (NBD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), radial distribution
function (RDF) and scanning probe microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS) techniques
were applied to analyze the structure and electronic properties of Ni63.5Nb36.5
glasses before and after crystallization. It was proved that partial surface
crystallization of Ni63.5Nb36.5 can occur at the temperature lower than for the
full sample crystallization. According to our STM measurements the primary
crystallization is originally starting with the Ni3Nb phase formation. It was
shown that surface crystallization drastically differs from the bulk
crystallization due to the possible surface reconstruction. The mechanism of
Ni63.5Nb36.5 glass alloy 2D-crystallization was suggested, which corresponds to
the local metastable (3x3)-Ni(111) surface phase formation. The possibility of
different surface nano-structures development by the annealing of the
originally glassy alloy in ultra high vacuum at the temperature lower, than the
crystallization temperature was shown. The increase of mean square surface
roughness parameter Rq while moving from glassy to fully crystallized state can
be caused by concurrent growth of Ni3Nb and Ni6Nb7 bulk phases. The simple
empirical model for the estimation of Ni63.5Nb36.5 cluster size was suggested,
and the obtained values (7.64 A, 8.08 A) are in good agreement with STM
measurements data (8 A-10 A).
