ROLE OF BIAS VOLTAGE ON MICROSTRUCTURE AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF ZR-SI-N NANOCOMPOSITE THIN FILMS

摘要

Nanocomposite thin films of binary compounds comprising of 3D-transition metal nitrides (MeN) and amorphous silicon nitride (Si_3N_4) possess a wide variety of useful physical and chemical properties that makes them strategic materials. These composite coatings exhibit high values of hardness that is attributed to the optimized microstructure in which nanocrystallites of MeN are surrounded by thinner amorphous layers of Si_3N_4. The deposition of the films is usually done by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or physical vapor deposition (PVD). Among the several techniques under PVD, magnetron reactive sputtering is the preferred technique for low temperature film growth. The chemical composition and microstructure of the deposited films are affected by parameters such as the substrate temperature, the flux and kinetic energy of impinging atomic and ionic species on the surface of the growing film, and the condensation rate.