Temperature effect on the mechanical behaviour of niobium nitride thin films

Abstract

Abstract Niobium nitride is used in a wide range of application due to its mechanical, physical, chemical, electrical and optical properties. The main aim of this paper is to deposit niobium nitride thin films by direct current magnetron sputtering and to characterize them at nanoscale. The films were deposited on silicon Si (100) substrates. Three types of films were deposited by modifying the deposition temperature. In this regard, some of the samples were deposited at room temperature (25 °C), some were deposited when the substrate was preheated at 200 °C, and the rest at substrate temperature of 400 °C. Regarding the topography of the samples, an increase in the average roughness was determined with the increase in deposition temperature. The nanoindentation tests were carried out at temperatures between 20 and 100 °C so that to emphasize the change in hardness and modulus of elasticity in terms of testing temperature. The results pointed out an important influence of both the deposition temperature and testing temperature on the topography, adhesion and mechanical properties of the niobium nitride thin films.