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In order to study the influence of the substrate bias on the properties of ZrN thin films deposited by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering for biomedical application. Films of ZrN were grown onto 316L stainless steel substrate using radio-frequency (rf) magnetron sputtering from a pure zirconium target in Ar - N2 gas mixture. The substrate bias voltage was varied from 0 to −100 V, which produces a variation in the structural and electrochemical properties of the obtained films. The deposited films were characterized by X-Rays Diffraction, Atomic Force Microscopy, scanning force microscopy and potentiodynamic polarization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of plasma deposition parameters (the pressure and the substrate bias voltage Vs) on structure, surface morphology, hardness and electrochemical behavior (studied by potentiodynamic polarization and optical microscope (OM) in aggressive environment NaCl 3.5 wt%) of TiAlN coatings. The coatings were deposited by reactive RF magnetron sputtering (13.56 MHz). They were carried out during 60 min and their thickness was approximately 1 μm. Structural analysis shown that TiAlN coating crystallized in cubic (fcc) and hexagonal (hcp) structure with orientations in (1 0 0), (1 1 1), (2 0 0), (1 1 0), (2 2 0) and (3 1 1) planes. The deposited coatings present maximum hardness ( H = 25.75 GPa) and Young's modulus ( E = 479.82 GPa) at low pressure (20 mTorr) and −60 V of negative substrate bias. Also, mechanical properties ( H & E ) were strongly influenced by coatings density and grain size. Electrochemical tests revealed that XC48 steel substrate covered with TiAlN coating exhibits excellent corrosion resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]