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Cu thin films sputter-coated on single crystals of silicon were implanted with 30 keV nitrogen ions under various doses from 1.9 × 1017 to 5.7 × 1017 ions/cm2. The prepared samples were subsequently annealed in nitrogen atmosphere. The grazing incidence X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that in addition to the crystalline copper nitride phase, copper azides were developed by nitrogen ion implantation. With an increase of the implantation dose to 2.3 × 1018 ions/cm2, much of the Cu film was transformed to the crystalline Cu3N phase. Furthermore, the effect of nitrogen ion implantation on Cu thin films under various doses was investigated. The structural properties, morphology and sheet resistance of samples were investigated by grazing incidence X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy and four-point probe techniques, respectively. In addition, the dependence of resistivity of the implanted samples on the implantation dose as well as structural properties is discussed.

Zirconium nitride (ZrN) coatings were prepared on Si (100) by single ion beam sputtering in N2 and Ar mixture at different substrate temperatures. Structure and morphology of the ZrN coatings were analyzed using X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy. Rutherford backscattering technique was utilized for the determination of composition and thickness of the coatings. Electrical properties of the ZrN coatings were determined by four point- probe and Hall test. The results showed that the growth of ZrN with a preferred (111) orientation was achieved. The coating thickness depended on the substrate temperature and coating surface roughly remained smooth. The resistivity of the coatings varied from 1× 10-3 to 14× 10-3 Ω cm depending on the substrate temperature. A correlation between resistivity and charge carrier density was established to explain the electrical behavior of the coatings. (© 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

In this work, a series of (Ti, Al) N coatings with different Al contents were deposited on 304 stainless steel substrates by Hollow Cathode Discharge (HCD) method. The coatings were grown on 304 stainless steel substrates at 400 °C. The coatings were characterized using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and microhardness test. The XRD confirmed the transition from TiN phase to (Ti, Al) N phase and then to AlN phase with increasing Al concentration in the solid solution. It was found that with increasing Al concentration the hardness of the coatings initially increased up to a maximum value of about 30 GPa at around 32 at.% of Al and then the coating hardness decreased rapidly with further increase of Al content (Al > 32 at.%). The potentiodynamic polarization analysis was carried out in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solutions to study the corrosion resistance of the coatings. From the corrosion test it can be inferred that the amount of Al atoms in the coatings plays an important role for reducing the corrosion.

Zirconium oxide (ZrO2) films have been prepared by using ex situ thermal oxidation of sputtered Zr films on glass and silicon substrates. XRD patterns show that a highly monoclinic (111) preferential orientation of ZrO2 phase can be formed with increasing the oxidation temperature. According to XRD patterns in all thermal oxidized samples silicon oxide phase is present as interfacial layer at the Zr (ZrO2) / Si (glass) interface. In the case of silicon substrates, crystallite sizes obtained from ZrO2 peak with higher intensity reveal an increase with substrate temperature. AFM measurement shows on the whole a decrease of average surface roughness with oxidation temperature. The electrical property of the prepared films is investigated by means of four point probe measurement. An abrupt increase of sheet resistivity occurs when the crystallinity of ZrO2 phase enhances at higher temperature. (© 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

The improvement of corrosion resistance of ZrN 1- x C x films (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) on AISI stainless steel (ss) 304 is studied as a function of methane flow rate introduced into mixture of argon and nitrogen gases (Ar + N 2 ). The films were deposited using ion beam sputtering technique at 400 °C and their corrosion resistance has been investigated via electrochemical test using 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 solution. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were performed to study the micro and nano-structures of the films. Film stoichiometry was determined by Rutherford backscattering (RBS) technique using SIMNRA code. An average grain size of 7 nm was calculated for deposited films using Scherrer's formula. X-ray diffraction results showed the presence of a transition crystalline phase from ZrN to ZrC phase corresponding to the formation of ZrN 1- x C x crystalline phase. The electrochemical test revealed that the film corrosion resistance increased with increasing x values. Furthermore, micrographs obtained by SEM did not indicate any damage on the sample surface due to corrosive agent attacks for x > 0.6.