Effect of thickness on structural, corrosion and mechanical properties of a thin ZrN film deposited by medium frequency (MF) reactive sputtering

Abstract

AbstractZirconium nitride (ZrN) thin films were prepared on stainless steel (SS) substrates by medium frequency (MF) reactive sputtering with gas ion source (GIS) by varying the deposition time and obtained thickness (tZrN) in the range of 1.25 to 3.24 μm. The effect of thickness on the structural and microstructural properties was studied using XRD and AFM. XRD characterization revealed that the texture of the ZrN thin films changes as a function of thickness. Both, the (111) and (200) peak, appear initially and (111) becomes more intense with increasing tZrN. AFM imaging revealed that the ZrN thin film coated with tZrN ≈ 3.24 μm shows larger grains that are uniformly distributed over the surface. An average hardness value of 19.79 GPa was observed for ZrN thin films having tZrN ≈ 3.24 μm. The ZrN thin films having tZrN ≈ 3.24 μm exhibits better adhesion strength up to 20 N. The electrochemical polarization studies indicated that the ZrN thin film having larger thickness shows improved corrosion resistance compared to SS in 3.5 % NaCl solution.