Design And Synthesis Of ZrN/WN And CrN/ZrN Nanoscale Multilayered Coatings By Magnetron Sputtering Technique

This paper reported the deposition of ZrN/WN multilayered coatings with nanoscale bilayer period by ultra-high vacuum radio frequency magnetron sputtering and the deposition of CrN/ZrN multilayered coatings with nanoscale bilayer period by unbalanced dual-cathode dc reactive magnetron sputtering on Si (100). The mechanical properties of the multilayered films including hardness, elastic modulus and adhesion were measured by Nano Indenter XP system. X-ray diffraction, Auger Electron Spectroscopy, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscope were employed to investigate microstructure of the coatings. Our aim is to obtain insight into the significance of different process parameters on the structure and mechanical properties of the multilayered coatings.1. ZrN/WN multilayered coatings with nanoscale bilayer periods have been synthesized by ultra-high vacuum rf magnetron sputtering from pure Zr and W target on Si (100). The influence of different working pressure, Ar/N₂ flow ratio, modulation periods and ZrN:WN thickness ratio on microstructure and properties of the films was obvious. The sharp ZrN(111) and W₂N(111) preferred crystallograghic orientations were found in both mulitlayered structures. At 0.8 Pa working pressure, F_Ar:F_N2= 5, Λ = 30 nm, t_ZrN : t_WN = 2:3, XRD pattern showed that ZrN/WN multilayered coatings the peak intensity of W₂N(111) increased and W₂N(200), W₂N(311) appeared. It was believed that presence of a proper parameter was able to produce a mixed polycrystalline in the multilayered structure, which may cause a positive effect on its mechanical properties.The low-angle XRD pattern and cross-sectional SEM indicated a well-defined composition modulation and layer structure of the multilayered coating. Their values were calculated to be 9.2 and 30.4 nm from the orientation peaks of the low-angle XRD pattern. AES analysis indicated that Zr, W and N were the mainly elements in the structure of the multilayered films.A Nano Indenter XP system was employed to perform nanoindentation and nanoscratch tests. The results showed that the influence of different working pressure,...