IUVSTA 15th International Vacuum Congress (IVC-15), AVS 48th International Symposium (AVS-48), 11th International Conference on Solid Surfaces (ICSS-11)
    Surface Engineering Monday Sessions
       Session SE-MoA

Paper SE-MoA2
The Influence of Sputtering Conditions on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Zr-Si-N Films Prepared by r.f.- Reactive Sputtering

Monday, October 29, 2001, 2:20 pm, Room 132

Session: Surface Engineering I: Graded, Multicomponent, and Complex Coatings
Presenter: M. Zhou, Osaka University, Japan
Authors: M. Zhou, Osaka University, Japan
M. Nose, Takaoka National College, Japan
Y. Deguchi, Toyama University, Japan
T. Mae, Toyama National College of Technology, Japan
K. Nogi, Osaka University, Japan
Correspondent: Click to Email
ZrN and ZrSiN films were prepared in an r.f. sputtering apparatus which has a pair of targets facing each other (referred to as the Facing Target -type r.f. Sputtering). Si content in the ZrSiN films was changed by using different number of Si tips during deposition. Films were deposited on silicon wafer. During the deposition, substrate was heated from room temperature to 473K, 573K and 673K in order to investigate the influence of substrate temperature on the microstructure and properties of transition metal nitride films. The microstructure of the deposited films was studied by XRD. The chemical contents of zirconium, nitrogen and silicon of the films were determined by EPMA with ZAF method. In order to investigate the relationship between mechanical properties and microstructure of films, the hardness and Young's modulus were measured by a nano-indentation system at room temperature. The load was selected to produce an impression depth below 60nm (not more than 5% of film thickness) so that the influence from the substrate can be neglected. The surface morphology of as-deposited films was also observed by AFM. A study of their microstructure and mechanical properties has provided as follows: (1) As-deposited ZrSiN films were consist of nano-crystals and the crystal size was in the range of 5-10 nm; (2) With increasing substrate temperature from room temperature to 673K during deposition, the crystal size of as-deposited ZrSiN films did not show obvious increase; (3) The hardness of ZrSiN films increased with small amount of Si reaching maximum hardness value of 35GPa, regardless of substrate temperature; (4) AFM results show that the surface morphology have obvious change with increasing Si content and substrate temperature.