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Ti–Al–Mo–N composite films with different molybdenum content were deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering. The results showed that the films consisted of fcc-(Ti, Al, Mo) N substitutional solid ...

We report the irradiation effects on rf reactive magnetron sputter deposited TiO2/Al2O3 hetero-structured thin films. These films are irradiated with 6 MeV electron beams by maintaining the dose ra...

Zinc-iridium oxide (Zn-Ir-O) thin films have been demonstrated as a p-type conducting material. However, the stability of p-type conductivity with respect to chemical composition or temperature is still unclear. In this study we discuss the local atomic structure and the electrical properties of Zn-Ir-O films in the large Ir concentration range. The films are deposited by reactive DC magnetron co-sputtering at two different substrate temperatures-without intentional heating and at 300 {\deg}C. Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) analysis reveals that strongly disordered ZnO4 tetrahedra are the main Zn complexes in Zn-Ir-O films with up to 67.4 at% Ir. As the Ir concentration increases, an effective increase of Ir oxidation state is observed. Reverse Monte Carlo analysis of EXAFS at Zn K-edge shows that the average Zn-O interatomic distance and disorder factor increase with the Ir concentration. We observed that the nano-crystalline w-ZnO structure is preserved in a wider Ir concentration range if the substrate is heated during deposition. At low Ir concentration, the transition from n- to p-type conductivity is observed regardless of the temperature of the substrates. Electrical resistivity decreases exponentially with the Ir concentration in the Zn-Ir-O films.

Cuprous oxide (Cu2O) has attracted much attention as a photocatalytic material. In this paper, the mid-frequency reactive magnetron sputtering method was used to prepare Cu2O films on glass slides, and the effects of oxygen flow and deposition time on the structures, morphologies and photocatalytic properties of the films were studied. The results show that the films prepared by this method have smooth surfaces and good absorptivity in the visible region. As the oxygen flow increases, the films transit from the mixed-phase of Cu and Cu2O to the single-phase of Cu2O. When the oxygen flow continues to increase, the films change to a mixed-phase of Cu4O3 and Cu2O. The photocatalytic decolorization of methyl orange under visible light irradiation conditions was used to assess the photocatalytic properties of the prepared films. When the oxygen flow is 6[Formula: see text]sccm and the deposition time is 15[Formula: see text]min, the film exhibits the best photocatalytic activity. Finally, the Mulliken electronegativity theory was used to explain the photocatalytic mechanism of Cu2O. This study confirmed the feasibility of preparing Cu2O photocatalytic films by magnetron sputtering, and provided the experimental basis for the subsequent study of Cu2O photocatalytic films.

TiN films with various nitrogen content were deposited using reactive magnetron sputtering system and the influence of TiN film’s microstructure on thermal diffusivity was investigated. The results...

TaO film @ Pt-decorated glass was deposited through the reactive magnetron sputtering using pure tantalum and oxygen integrated Ar environment. The film properties were studied through XRD, FE-SEM ...

International audience; The composition and structure properties of the CrOxNy films deposited by RF reactive magnetron sputtering were investigated and correlated with their optical properties. Two kinds of targets Cr2O3 and CrN compounds with variation of N2 and O2 gas flow were used to prepare two series of samples. The phase structure, chemical composition and optical properties of CrOxNy films were characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and ultraviolet-visible-near-infrared spectrophotometer, respectively. The films mainly consist of Cr2N and CrO3 phases. The Cr/ON ratio derived by XPS varies with the variation of nitrogen with Cr2O3 target. But only lower nitrogen content is detected with variation of oxygen using CrN target. TheCrOxNyy films with higher nitrogen content possess high absorbance around at 35% in the visible light range no matter the target.

TiAlSiCN coatings were deposited by radio frequency reactive magnetron co-sputtering. In the coatings, the Si content is tuned by using targets with different Si additions. The structures and mechanical properties of the TiAlSiCN coatings were strongly depended on the Si content. The Si ~3 at.% sample exhibits the highest hardness of 38 GPa among the coatings prepared in this work. The nanocomposite microstructure containing B1-TiN nanocrystals with C:N ≈ 1:1 and combined C, SiNx and SiCx amorphous phases is attributed to the enhanced hardness.

In this work, we explore the addition of Ti ribbons on the racetrack of a Zr target to prepare Zr-O-N films including Ti, by reactive magnetron sputtering with a mixture of N2 and O2 as reactive gases. This approach is simple and not invasive, it avoids the modification of the target and minimizes its contamination. These films were compared in terms of chemical composition, density, film growth and crystallographic structure with others prepared in identical conditions without Ti ribbons. In addition, the composition and density of the films were correlated with crystallographic references from literature. The color and electrical properties of the films were evaluated as well. It was observed that poisoning of the Zr target is promoted by the increase of the N2 + O2 flow and the reduction of magnetron current, but it is retarded by the introduction of the Ti ribbons. This effect was particularly remarkable at lower target current, since the sputtering is confined in areas nearer to the racetrack, where the Ti ribbons are located. To account for the poisoning of the target and compare it among the different samples, a ‘poisoning parameter’ was defined, using a combination of the chemical composition of the films and the deposition rates. The color and electrical properties of the films correlate surprisingly well with their oxygen-to-metal ratio, while the concentration of N does not seem to play any significant role., The financial support of Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology (FCT), under the projects IF/00671/2013, M-ERA-NET2/0012/2016, and Strategic Funding UIDB/04650/2020 are gratefully acknowledged. The financial support from the Basque Government Industry Department under the ELKARTEK program is also acknowledged.

International audience; Tandem dye‐sensitized solar cell devices (t‐DSSCs) are a potential alternative to Si‐based solar cells as autonomous power sources. Nevertheless, their further development suffers from the poor quality of the p‐type material, that is, NiO. In this study, N‐doped TiO2 thin films exhibiting a p‐type conductivity (p‐TiO2:N) are successfully grown by co‐reactive magnetron sputtering. Its p‐type conductivity is correlated to the incorporation of N atoms in substitutional positions which is controllable by carefully tuning the ratio between O2 and N2 reactive gases during the growth of the material. Furthermore, it reveals a three to six times higher mobility of the carriers (1.5–3.1 cm2·V−1·s−1) than sputtered NiO. These results are in particular interest for the development of new TiO2‐based t‐DSSCs.

An in-depth analysis of Zn/Al doped nickel ferrites grown by reactive magnetron sputtering is relevant due to their promising characteristics for applications in spintronics. The material is insulating and ferromagnetic at room temperature with an additional low magnetic damping. By studying the complex interplay between strain and cation distribution their impact on the magnetic properties, i.e. anisotropy, damping and g-factor is unravelled. In particular, a strong influence of the lattice site occupation of Ni$^{2+}_{\text{Td}}$ and cation coordination of Fe$^{2+}_{\text{Oh}}$ on the intrinsic damping is found. Furthermore, the critical role of the incorporation of Zn$^{2+}$ and Al$^{3+}$ is evidenced by comparison with a sample of altered composition. Especially, the dopant Zn$^{2+}$ is evidenced as a tuning factor for Ni$^{2+}_{\text{Td}}$ and therefore unquenched orbital moments directly controlling the g-factor. A strain-independent reduction of the magnetic anisotropy and damping by adapting the cation distribution is demonstrated., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures

This article deals with an investigation of the effect of oxygen content on optical and structural properties of ZnO films. Zinc oxide films were deposited with the DC reactive magnetron sputtering...

Multicomponent nitride coatings of the Hf-Nb-Ti-V-Zr system with different Hf content (0-18 at.%) were deposited using reactive dc magnetron sputtering. Coatings with lower Hf content (0-7 at.%) we ...

This work was supported by the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research through the FONDECYT grants 1150652 (RE) and 1171803 (GG), FONDEQUIP grant EQ M140142 (GG) and National Doctoral scholarship 21151515 (RV).

ZnO thin films were deposited on glass substrates by radio-frequency (RF) reactive sputtering under different O2 flow rates, with constant Ar flow rate (50sccm). The dependence of O2 flow rate on s...

Tungsten titanium nitride films were synthesized by the reactive magnetron sputtering system and the influence of titanium content on the crystal structure, mechanical and tribological properties of the films were investigated. The results showed that the tungsten titanium nitride films at

Ti–W–V–N composite films with different vanadium contents were synthesised by multi-target reactive magnetron sputtering. The microstructure, mechanical and tribological properties of Ti–W–V–N film...

TiNx films were deposited using direct current reactive magnetron sputtering on glass substrates, and the variation of resistivity and infrared emissivity of TiNx films deposited at different subst...

In this study, nano-silica thin films were deposited on the surface of polypropylene (PP) non-woven fabric (NWF) by reactive magnetron sputtering with a mixture of argon and oxygen gases to improve...

W-Nb-N coatings with Nb content ranging from 0 to 13.2 at.% were deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering technique. The influence of Nb content on the structure and mechanical properties was investigated. The results show that Nb atoms substitute W atoms forming the solid solution W-Nb-N. All the coatings exhibit a single-phase face-centered cubic (fcc) structure and the preferred orientation changes from (200) to (111) with Nb addition. The grain size of W-Nb-N coatings decreases with the increase of Nb content. The hardness and elastic modulus of W-Nb-N coatings increase gradually from 28.0 GPa to 320 GPa at 0 at.% Nb to 36.0 GPa and 386 GP at 13.2 at.% Nb, respectively. The adhesion between coatings and Si substrate also could be improved by Nb addition.

W-Si-N films with various Si contents were deposited using a reactive magnetron system, and the film with the highest hardness, the lowest average friction coefficient (μ) and wear rate at room temperature (RT) was chosen to study the tribological properties at elevated temperature. Tribological properties of the film were performed using un-lubricated sliding tests against an alumina counterpart. Elevating the testing temperature from RT to 100 °C induced an intense skin plastic deformation, as a result, the μ increased rapidly and the wear rate decreased significantly. As the testing temperature was in the range of 100–200 °C, the surface deformation strengthening was induced furtherly, μ was further increased and the wear rate could not be calculated due the adhesive wear debris on the wear track. From 200 to 600 °C, the main wear mechanism changed to oxidation wear and the a lot of WO 3 tribo-film led to the decrease of μ. Wear rate increased gradually due to the accelerated oxidation of the film and the disappearance of surface deformation strengthening.

Y2O3 has a great application potential at reaction barrier coating of high-temperature composites due to its high thermodynamic stability and high melting point, and the phase structure stability at high temperature and structure dependent mechanical property are key parameters for this application. Y2O3 thin films were deposited on silicon (100) wafers by DC magnetron sputtering with various oxygen partial pressure and substrate bias, and then vacuum annealing at 1000°C was performed to investigate the phase structure stability. The microstructure, stress and hardness of as-deposited and annealed Y2O3 thin films were explored by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscope, and nanoindenter. The result showed that as-60 bias voltage was applied to substrate, cubic-c phase formed regardless of variation of oxygen partial pressure, and the cubic-c phase remains stability and crystallinity became better after annealing at 1000 °C.In addition, the hardness and modulus also just had minor changes as a function of oxygen partial pressure. As oxygen partial pressure was kept at 0.043 Pa, phase transition from cubic-c to monoclinic-b phase took place with increasing substrate bias, accompanying by the increment of hardness and modulus, and 1000 °Chigh-temperature annealing resulted in that as-deposited monoclinic-b phase transforms to cubic-c phase.

Tungsten carbide thin films were deposited on silicon (100) substrates by DC reactive magnetron sputtering using CH4 as a carbon source. The microstructure, compressive stress, hardness and tribological behaviors showed great dependences on the rates of CH4 flow (FCH4). Increasing the FCH4 from 2 to 5 sccm, the film exhibited a phase transition from hexagonal-W2C to cubic-WC1-x. Further increasing the FCH4 larger than 10sccm, the film presented amorphous state. As the FCH4 increased, the Raman revealed that the films showed a graphitization trend, meanwhile, the surface of the films became smoother and smoother. The hardness of tungsten carbide films first increased, and then decreased after reaching the maximum 38.5GPa (FCH4=10 sccm). While the sample deposited at 15 sccm obtained the lowest wear rate (2.17×10-6 mm3/Nm) and low coefficient of friction (CoF, 0.24) and still maintained a high hardness of 32.1 GPa. The lowest wear rate could be ascribed to the highest ratio of H3/E2.

Co-doped copper nitride films were successfully prepared on various substrates by reactive magnetron co-sputtering. We study the surface chemicals, structures, electrical resistivity, optical transmittance and magnetic properties of Co-doped Cu3N films. X-ray diffraction patterns show that the Co-doped films more readily exhibit diffraction peaks on different orientations when deposited on ITO glass substrates. The resistivity of the films significantly decreases from 5730 Ω·cm to 225 Ω·cm with increasing content of Co. Vibrating sample magnetometer tests show that magnetic films were obtained via Co doping.

Carbon-doped titania (C:TiO2) films were prepared by reactive magnetron sputtering using CO2 as a carbon source. The as-prepared films were annealed at different temperatures in vacuum condition. A TiO2 film using O2 gas was also prepared for comparisons with C:TiO2. The structure and composition of the as-prepared, the TiO2 films and the annealed C:TiO2 films were analyzed by X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, whereas the surface morphology of the C:TiO2 films was measured by atomic force microscopy. Furthermore, photocatalytic properties of the films were evaluated by the degradation of methyl orange (MO). The results indicate that the photocatalytic property was improved when carbon was doped into TiO2 films, and the C:TiO2 films consist of anatase and TiO phases. The experimental results of the MO’s degradation confirm that the annealing process at various temperatures can modify the surface morphology of the films and the content of oxygen vacancies in the films. Consequently, the variations in surface topography and oxygen vacancy potentially enhance the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 films.

International audience; In this paper, we study the impact of using III-nitride semiconductors (GaN, AlN) as substrates for ultrathin (11 nm) superconducting films of NbTiN deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering. The resulting NbTiN layers are (111)-oriented, fully relaxed, and they keep an epitaxial relation with the substrate. The higher critical superconducting temperature (Tc=11.8 K) was obtained on AlN-on-sapphire, which was the substrate with smaller lattice mismatch with NbTiN. We attribute this improvement to a reduction of the NbTiN roughness,which appears associated with the relaxation of the lattice misfit with the substrate. On AlN-onsapphire, superconducting nanowire single photon detectors were fabricated and tested, obtaining external quantum efficiencies that are in excellent agreement with theoreticalcalculations.

In this paper, a previously established 3D multi-scale simulation chain of plasma deposition process, based on a combination of a Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (gas phase) algorithm and a kinetic Monte Carlo (film growth) code, is improved by the addition of a Particle-in-Cell Monte Carlo Collision algorithm in order to take into account and clarify the role of charged particles. The kinetic Monte Carlo code is also extended with a binary collision approximation algorithm to handle charged particles. This modelling strategy is successfully applied to the growth of TiO2 thin films by means of reactive magnetron sputtering. In order to highlight the effects of negative oxygen ions, two substrate locations are selected: one in the median plane of the targets and another one off-median plane. The model efficiently predicts the densities and fluxes of both charged and neutral particles towards the substrate. Typical results such as particle densities, discharge current density and ion flux onto the target and the various substrate locations are calculated. The angular distribution and energy distribution of all involved particles are sampled at these very same substrate locations and the NAnoSCAle Modelling (NASCAM) code implementing the kinetic Monte Carlo approach, uses these results to explain the morphology of the experimentally deposited coatings. The changes throughout the transition from metallic deposition to stoichiometric TiO2, of the columnar structure of the deposited films is explained by the suppression of the atom diffusion, on the growing film, due to Ti oxidation. Moreover, the high energy negative atomic oxygen ions originating from the targets are identified as origin of the abnormally low inclination of the columnar structure experimentally observed for the oxide mode coatings. Measurements of the normalized energy flux (energy per deposited atom) is experimentally investigated to support and highlight the important role of energetic particles during film growth., In this paper, a previously established 3D multi-scale simulation chain of plasma deposition process, based on a combination of a direct simulation Monte Carlo (gas phase) algorithm and a kinetic Monte Carlo (kMC) (film growth) code, is improved by the addition of a particle-in-cell Monte Carlo collision algorithm in order to take into account and clarify the role of charged particles. The kinetic Monte Carlo code is also extended with a binary collision approximation algorithm to handle charged particles. This modelling strategy is successfully applied to the growth of TiO2 thin films by means of reactive magnetron sputtering. In order to highlight the effects of negative oxygen ions, two substrate locations are selected: one in the median plane of the targets and another one off the median plane. The model efficiently predicts the densities and fluxes of both charged and neutral particles towards the substrate. Typical results such as particle densities, the discharge current density and ion flux onto the target, and the various substrate locations are calculated. The angular distribution and energy distribution of all involved particles are sampled at these very same substrate locations and the nanoscale modelling (NASCAM) code, implementing the kMC approach, uses these results to explain the morphology of the experimentally deposited coatings. The changes throughout the transition from metallic deposition to stoichiometric TiO2 of the columnar structure of the deposited films is explained by the suppression of the atom diffusion on the growing film due to Ti oxidation. Moreover, the high-energy negative atomic oxygen ions originating from the targets are identified as the origin of the abnormally low inclination of the columnar structure experimentally observed for the oxide mode coatings. Measurements of the normalized energy flux (energy per deposited atom) are experimentally investigated to support and highlight the important role of energetic particles during film growth.

Al incorporation into the InGaN films has been successfully attained from the cermet targets under the working temperature of 200 °C and output power of 120 W by the RF sputtering technique. We used energy dispersive spectroscopy to analyze the compositions of the AlxInyGa1−x−yN, and X-ray diffractometry and atomic force microscopy had been taken to obtain the crystal structure and growth characteristics of the AlInGaN films. Composition-affected electrical properties of the films had been discussed by the Hall measurement, which also identified the incorporation of Al into the InGaN film in this work. A simple n-AlInGaN/p-Si diode is designed to illustrate the potential application of the sputtered AlInGaN in an electrical device.

The authors thank the Junta de Andalucia (P12-FQM-2265) and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Projects MAT2013-42900-P, MAT2013-40852-R, MINECO-CSIC 201560E055) for financial support.

The CrAlN/SiO2 nanomultilayered films with different SiO2 layers thickness were synthesized by reactive magnetron sputtering. The effects of SiO2 layer thickness on the microstructure and mechanical properties of CrAlN/SiO2 nanomultilayered films were studied. The results reveal that, when SiO2 layer thickness is less than 0.7 nm, originally amorphous SiO2 layers can be forced to crystallize under the “template effect” of NaCl-structured CrAlN layers and grow epitaxially with them, resulting in the preservation of columnar growth structure and remarkable superhardness effect with the maximum value of hardness of 38.9 GPa. As the SiO2 layer thickness exceeds 0.7 nm, however, SiO2 layers transform back into amorphous state, which destructs the epitaxial structure between CrAlN and SiO2 layers, leading to disappearance of columnar growth character and decrease of mechanical properties. The superhardness effect of CrAlN/SiO2 nanomultilayered film can be attributed to the joint effects of modulus-difference and alternating-stress strengthening mechanisms.

VSiN coatings with silicon content ranging from 0 to 19.8 at.% were deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering technique. The structure, mechanical, tribological properties and corrosion performance were investigated. The results show that VSiN coatings consist of a mixture of fcc-VN, h-V 2 N, amorphous Si 3 N 4 phases with slight (111) preferential orientation. The hardness, H/E and H 3 /E 2 ratios of VSiN coatings first increase and then decrease and the maximum values are 27 GPa, 0.098 and 0.325 GPa, respectively, at 10.2 at.% Si. The friction coefficient and wear rate first decrease and then increase with increasing the silicon content. The minimum values of 0.35 and 5.1 × 10 − 6 mm 3 ·N − 1 mm − 1 are obtained at 10.2 at.% Si, respectively. The corrosion resistance of the substrate coated with VN or VSiN coatings is superior to the bare substrate.

Quaternary Ti–B–C–N coatings with various carbon contents were deposited on high-speed steel (HSS) substrates by reactive magnetron sputtering (RMS) system. The elevated-temperature tribological behavior of Ti–B–C–N coatings was explored using pin-on-disk tribometer, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The present results show that the steady-state friction coefficient value and the instantaneous friction coefficient fluctuation range of Ti–B–C–N coatings decrease as carbon content increases at 100 and 300 °C, while the steady-state friction coefficient value of all Ti–B–C–N coatings becomes higher than 0.4 at 500 °C. As ambient temperature increases, the running-in periods of all Ti–B–C–N coatings become shorter. Wear damage to Ti–B–C–N coatings during sliding at elevated temperature is mainly caused by adhesive wear, and adhesive-wear damage to Ti–B–C–N coatings increases as ambient temperature increases; however, higher carbon content is beneficial for decreasing the adhesive-wear damage to Ti–B–C–N coatings during sliding at elevated temperature.

In this study several Au–WO3 nanocomposite coatings were deposited by reactive magnetron co-sputtering and characterized with respect to their chemical composition, structure, microstructure and mechanical and optical properties. The nanocomposites consist of a dual phase system of Au nanoparticles dispersed homogeneously in an amorphous WO3 matrix, with compositions ranging between 0 and 11 at.% Au. To enhance the surface plasmon resonance effect in the coatings, the growth of Au nanoparticles was stimulated by applying a thermal annealing treatment at different temperatures up to 500 °C. The annealing treatments promoted the crystalization of the WO3 matrix. The hardness of the coatings remained close to 4.5 GPa, irrespectively of the Au content and annealing temperature. As a result of the microstructural changes in both the nanoparticles and matrix, surface plasmon resonance effect was successfully enhanced and different colourations were obtained in the coatings.

Composite Nb–V–Si–N films with various V contents (3.7–13.2 at.%) were deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering and the effects of V content on the microstructure, mechanical and tribological properties of Nb–V–Si–N films were investigated. The results revealed that a three-phase structure, consisting of face-centered cubic (fcc) Nb–V–Si–N, hexagonal close-packed (hcp) Nb–V–Si–N and amorphous Si 3 N 4 , co-exists in the Nb–V–Si–N films and the cubic phase is dominant. The hardness and critical load ( L c ) of Nb–V–Si–N films initially increased gradually and reached a summit, then decreased with the increasing V content in the films and the maximum values were 35 GPa and 9.8 N, respectively, at 6.4 at.% V. The combination of V into Nb–Si–N film led to the fracture toughness linearly increasing from 1.11 MPa·m 1/2 at 3.7 at.% V to 1.67 MPa·m 1/2 at 13.2 at.% V. At room temperature (RT), the average friction coefficient decreased from 0.80 at 3.7 at.% V to 0.55 at 13.2 at.% V for the Nb–V–Si–N films. The wear rate of Nb–V–Si–N films initially decreased and then increased after reaching a minimum value of about 6.35 × 10 − 7 mm 3 /N·mm at 6.4 at.% V. As the rise of testing temperature from 200 °C to 600 °C, the average friction coefficient of Nb–V–Si–N films decreased with the increase of the testing temperature regardless of V content. However, the wear rate gradually increased for all films. The average friction coefficient and wear rate at RT and elevated temperatures were mainly influenced by the vanadium oxides with weakly bonded lattice planes.

This paper reports the structural and surface features of In1−xAlxN films grown on GaAs substrates with ZnO buffer layer by using reactive magnetron co-sputtering of Al and In targets in Ar–N2 at 100 °C. The Al sputtering power was varied between 100 W and 300 W with respect to the fixed In power (50 W) to obtain different compositions of the films. X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies revealed the formation of nanostructured In1−xAlxN films along (0002) and ( 10 1 ¯ 1 ) planes with composition ‘x’ ranging from 0.4 to 0.9. Intensity of the diffraction peaks and crystallite size were decreased with increase of the Al contents in the film. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) results indicated that a compact film structure changes into a relatively loose structure by increasing the Al power.

Sc doped AlN (ScAlN) films were prepared by dc reactive magnetron sputtering. The crystal quality, surface topography, cross-sectional view and the resistivity of ScAlN thin films grown on Si (100) substrates at various substrate temperatures from room temperature to 650°C have been investigated. Results show that the temperature has a significant effect on the properties of ScAlN thin films. According to the research, the crystal quality of ScAlN film first increases and then decreases, reaching the best crystalline state at 600°C. The best surface morphology and cross-sectional view of ScAlN thin film was obtained at 600°C. The resistivity first increased to a maximum value of 3·36 × 1012 Ω·cm and then decreased with the temperature increasing.

Two series of TiAlN and Ti3AlN films have been deposited on Si (100) substrates by reactive magnetron sputtering TiAl and Ti3Al targets in Ar/N2 mixture. The effects of incoming ions energies controlled by Vb on the microstructure, morphologies, residual stress and hardness have been explored by XRD, SEM, AFM, surface profiler and nanoindentation. The results showed that single phase cubic Ti-Al-N solid solubility formed by Al atoms replacing some Ti atoms in the cubic TiN lattice occured in both TiAlN and Ti3AlN films. As substrate bias increased, the preferred orientation firstly changed from (111) to (200), and then returned to (111) at higher substrate bias. At the same time, high substrate bias promoted the densification of films and presence of high compressive stress, which is benefit for improvement of hardness.

In this paper the influence of temperature on the 3-D surface morphology of titanium nitride (TiN) thin films synthesized by DC reactive magnetron sputtering has been analyzed. The 3-D morphology variation of TiN thin films grown on p-type Si (100) wafers was investigated at four different deposition temperatures (473 K, 573 K, 673 K, 773 K) in order to evaluate the relation among the 3-D micro-textured surfaces. The 3-D surface morphology of TiN thin films was characterized by means of atomic force microscopy (AFM) and fractal analysis applied to the AFM data. The 3-D surface morphology revealed the fractal geometry of TiN thin films at nanometer scale. The global scale properties of 3-D surface geometry were quantitatively estimated using the fractal dimensions D, determined by the morphological envelopes method. The fractal dimension D increased with the substrate temperature variation from 2.36 (at 473 K) to 2.66 (at 673 K) and then decreased to 2.33 (at 773 K). The fractal analysis in correlation with the averaged power spectral density (surface) yielded better quantitative results of morphological changes in the TiN thin films caused by substrate temperature variations, which were more precise, detailed, coherent and reproducible. It can be inferred that fractal analysis can be easily applied for the investigation of morphology evolution of different film/substrate interface phases obtained using different thin-film technologies.

The paper reports on the effect of Cu content in the Al–Cu–N film on its antibacterial activity and mechanical properties. The Al–Cu–N films were prepared by reactive magnetron sputtering from composed Al/Cu targets using a dual magnetron. The antibacterial activity of Al–Cu–N films was tested on the killing of Escherichia coli bacteria. Mechanical properties of Al–Cu–N films were determined from the load vs. displacement curves measured by a Fischerscope H 100 microhardness tester. Mechanical properties were controlled by (i) the Cu content in the film and (ii) the energy Ei delivered to growing film by bombarding ions and fast neutrals. Correlations between the energy Ei, the content of Cu in the Al–Cu–N film and its mechanical and antibacterial properties were investigated in detail. It was found that (1) Al–Cu–N films with Cu content ranging from ~ 2 to ~ 12 at.% exhibit (i) high hardness H ranging from ~ 15 to ~ 23 GPa, (ii) high ratio H/E⁎ ≥ 0.1, (iii) high elastic recovery We ≥ 60%, (iv) compressive macrostress (σ

Transparent conductive aluminum doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Al, AZO) films have been prepared on glass substrate by pulsed DC reactive magnetron sputtering at room temperature. The sputtering process was accurately controlled by a closed-loop speedflo controller with a λ-sensor. Subsequently, the obtained AZO films were annealed at different temperature. The effect of annealing temperature on the optical, electrical, and structural properties was investigated. Structural, electrical and optical properties were performed by XRD, SEM, AFM, four-point probe and UV–vis–NIR spectrum measurements. Experimental results show that the electrical resistivity of AZO thin films deposited at room temperature can be as low as 5.24×10 −4 Ω cm with post-deposition annealing at 300 °C.