| Pacific Rim Symposium on Surfaces, Coatings and Interfaces (PacSurf 2014) | |
| Thin Films | Wednesday Sessions |
| Session TF-WeM |
| Session: | Thin Film Synthesis and Characterization II |
| Presenter: | Lina Tengdelius, Department of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology (IFM), Linköping University, Sweden |
| Authors: | L. Tengdelius, Department of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology (IFM), Linköping University, Sweden E. Broitman, Department of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology (IFM), Linköping University F. Eriksson, Department of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology (IFM), Linköping University M. Samuelsson, Impact Coatings AB, Linköping J. Lu, Department of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology (IFM), Linköping University J. Birch, Department of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology (IFM), Linköping University T. Nyberg, Department of Solid State Electronics, Uppsala University H. Högberg, Department of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology (IFM), Linköping University |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Zirconium diboride (ZrB2) exhibits a number of favorable properties including high melting point, high hardness, and low resistivity [1,2]. In addition, the compound is chemically inert and shows good wear and corrosion resistance, even at elevated temperatures. These properties make ZrB2 thin films interesting for applications in demanding environments.
In order to enable reliable evaluation of the mechanical and electrical properties of this material, the films should exhibit well defined properties, including being stoichiometric, show high crystalline ordering, and being free of contaminants. Moreover, the substrate material must be appropriately chosen for the measurements of the functional properties.
The aim of the current study is to investigate and determine the electrical and mechanical properties of ZrB2 thin films. In order to do so, well defined ZrB2 thin films, were deposited using direct current magnetron sputtering (DCMS) from a compound source, on Al2O3(0001) substrates enabling evaluation of said properties.
It was found that epitaxial growth of ZrB2 films, up to a thickness of 1.2 µm, is possible by DCMS of a ZrB2 compound target on Al2O3(0001) substrates, and at a temperature of 900 °C. The obtained ZrB2 thin films were characterized with regards to mechanical and electrical properties, and the results showed that the films exhibited resistivity values of ~125‑200 µΩ cm, and notably high hardness values of up to 50 Gpa, as well as high elastic recovery.
References
[1] Rahman M, Wang CC, Chen W, Akbar SA, Mroz C. Electrical Resistivity of Titanium Diboride and Zirconium Diboride. J Am Ceram Soc 1995;78(5):1380-1382.
[2] Fahrenholtz WG, Hilmas GE, Talmy IG, Zaykoski JA. Refractory diborides of zirconium and hafnium. J Am Ceram Soc 2007;90(5):1347-1364.