Effect of aluminum contents on sputter deposited CrAlN thin films

International Conference on Mechanical Engineering and Applied Composite Materials

机械制造;材料科学

Vyas, A.^1 ; Zhou, Z.F.^2 ; Shen, Y.G.^2

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong^1

Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong^2

关键词: Aluminum contents;    Cr-AlN thin films;    Hardness increase;    Microstructural investigation;    Nano-indentation measurements;    Reactive DC magnetron sputtering;    Si (100) substrate;    X-ray photoelectron microscopy;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/307/1/012079/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1757-899X/307/1/012079

学科分类：材料科学（综合）

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

Pure CrN and CrAlN films with varied Al concentrations were prepared onto Si(100) substrates by an unbalanced reactive dc-magnetron sputtering system. The crystal structure, chemical states, and microstructure of the films were characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy whereas mechanical properties were determined by nano-indentation measurements. XRD results showed a prominent (200) reflection in both CrN and CrAlN films. Results demonstrate that CrAlN films formed a solid solution and doping of Al atoms replace the Cr atoms affecting the lattice parameter and crystallization of the films. All Al doped films were of B1 NaCl-type structure, demonstrating that CrAlN films primarily crystallized in cubic structure. Microstructural investigation by TEM for a CrAlN film containing Al content of 24.1 at.%, revealed that there exists an amorphous/nanocrystalline domains (grains of about ∼ 11 nm) and hardness increases 22% when compared with pure CrN film.