Surface blistering in ZrSiN nanocomposite films irradiated with He ions

摘要

In the present work, the influence of silicon content on the surface blistering of ZrSiN nanocomposite films after He ion irradiation (energy of 30 keV and doses up to 8 x 10(16) cm(-2)) and post-radiation annealing at the temperature of 600 degrees C was investigated. Using SEM, TEM and AFM methods, the influence of amorphous/crystalline boundaries on the formation of blisters in the n-ZrN/a-Si3N4 nanocomposites was studied. ZrSiN nanocomposite films (similar to 300 nm thick) were deposited at 600 degrees C onto (001) Si wafers by reactive unbalanced magnetron sputtering technique. Silicon concentration was varied from 7.1 to 23.1 at.%. While helium ion irradiation (at the dose of 8 x 10(16) cm(-2)) did not change the surface morphology of the nanocomposite films, the alteration of the surface was observed after vacuum annealing. It was revealed that post-radiation annealing (600 degrees C) of ZrN and Si3N4 mononitride films resulted in surface blistering at the dose of 5 x 10(16) cm(-2). Rather low blister density (0.017 mu m(-2)) after post-radiation annealing at the dose of 5 x 10(16) cm(-2) was also observed for the nanocomposite film with 7.1 at.% Si content. As the irradiation dose increased up to 8 x 10(16) cm(-2), the surface density of blisters raised significantly (0.53 mu m(-2)). It was found that increasing of Si concentration in the nanocomposite films was beneficial for their radiation resistance. The ZrSiN nanocomposite film with maximum Si content of 23.1 at.% was the most stable, with no sign of surface blistering being detected.