Abstract:
Chromium zirconium nitride (CrZrN) thin films were deposited on glass slide and Si by using reactive DC magnetron co-sputtering technique. The effect of N2 gas flow rates and zirconium current on the structure, morphology and hardness of the as-deposited films were investigated. The structure, chemical composition, micro-structure, morphology, and hardness of the thin films were characterized using XRD, EDS,FE-SEM, and, Nanoindentation, respectively. The results show that (1) in the case of varied N2 gas flow rates, the as-deposited films were solid solutions of (Cr,Zr)N with fcc structure in (111), (200), and (220) planes. The crystal size was in the range of 8.1 to 11.4 nm. The lattice constant was in the range of 4.162 4.199 Å. The asdeposited film composes of chromium, zirconium, and nitrogen in different ratios. The result from FE-SEM shows that the CrZrN thin films were the columnar structure. The thickness of thin films decreased from 478 to 325 nm, with increasing of the N2 gas flow rates. (2) in the case of varied the zirconium current, the as-deposited films were solid solutions of (Cr,Zr)N with fcc structure in (111), (200), and (220) planes. The crystal size was in the range of 2.6 -111.4 nm. The lattice constant was in the range of 4.162 4.487 Å. The as-deposited film composes of chromium, zirconium, and nitrogen in different ratios. The films were a columnar structure. The thickness of thin films increased from 478 nm to 1078 nm, with increasing of the zirconium current. The films were a columnar structure. (3) the hardness of the as-deposited films was obtained from the nanoindentation method, with increasing the N2 gas flow rates, the hardness of thin films increased from 8.9 GPa to 9.3 GPa. As increasing of the zirconium current, the hardness of thin films increased from 8.9 GPa to 18.6 GPa.