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High quality ZrC, ZrC/ZrN and ZrC/TiN thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition

D. CRACIUN1, G. SOCOL1, G. DORCIOMAN1, N. STEFAN1, G. BOURNE2, V. CRACIUN1,2,*

Affiliation

  1. Laser Department, National Institute for Laser, Plasma, and Radiation Physics, Bucharest, Romania
  2. Major Analytical Instrumentation Center, Materials Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA

Abstract

ZrC, ZrC/ZrN, and ZrC/ZrTiN films were grown on (100) Si substrates by the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique using a KrF excimer laser working at 40 Hz and 8 J/cm2 . The nominal substrate temperature during depositions was 300 o C and the cooling rate was 5 o C/min. X-ray diffraction investigations showed that films were crystalline, the grain size depending on the nature and pressure of the gas used during deposition. The films elemental composition, analyzed by Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), showed the presence of a carboxide layer in the surface region. After its removal by Ar ion sputtering, the oxygen concentration rapidly decreased, down to around 4-6 % in bulk. Simulations of the x-ray reflectivity (XRR) curves indicated a smooth surface morphology, with roughness below 1 nm (rms) and films density around 95-97 % of bulk values. While nanoindentation results showed for the best quality ZrC films a hardness of 27.6 GPa and a reduced modulus of 228 GPa, multilayer ZrC/ZrN and ZrC/ZrTiN samples exhibited hardness and reduced modulus values between 32.4 to 33.2 GPa and 251-270 GPa, respectively..

Keywords

Laser ablation, ZrC, ZrN, TiN, Nanoindentation.

Submitted at: June 19, 2009
Accepted at: Feb. 27, 2010

Citation

D. CRACIUN, G. SOCOL, G. DORCIOMAN, N. STEFAN, G. BOURNE, V. CRACIUN, High quality ZrC, ZrC/ZrN and ZrC/TiN thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition, Journal of Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials Vol. 12, Iss. 3, pp. 461-465 (2010)