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Abstract
The present study deals with CrN films irradiated at room temperature (RT) with 200 keV Ar+ ions. The CrN layers were deposited by d.c. reactive sputtering on Si (100) wafers, at nitrogen partial pressure of 5?10-4 mbar, to a total thickness of 280 nm. The substrates were held at 150?C during deposition. After deposition the CrN layers were irradiated with 200 keV Ar+ ions to the fluences of 5?1015 - 2?1016 ions/cm2. Structural characterization was performed with Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS), cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements were carried out in order to study optical properties of the samples. The irradiations caused the microstructrual changes in CrN layers, but no amorphization even at the highest argon fluence of 2?1016 ions/cm2. Observed changes in microstructure were correlated with the variation in optical parameters. It was found that both refractive index and extinction coefficient are strongly dependent on the defect concentration in CrN layers.
Highlights
Nitride-based thin films are nowadays widely studied both from fundamental and technological point of views due to their unique physical and mechanical properties [1,2]
Compositional analyses using Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) measurements indicated the growth of stoichiometric CrN layers deposited at nitrogen partial pressure of 5×10-4 mbar and substrate temperature at 150oC
Analyses show that the Ar ions concentration profiles and the depth where ions are stopped in the irradiated samples are very close to the SRIM values
Summary
Nitride-based thin films are nowadays widely studied both from fundamental and technological point of views due to their unique physical and mechanical properties [1,2]. The cubic-base structural chromium-nitride (CrN) is a more recent and interesting choice owing to its well-matched properties to some industrial requirements, especially those that require a hard coating and for tribological applications. This is largely due to the fact that CrN films have a high hardness, high wear- and corrosion-resistance, and have a low friction coefficient [3,4]. Our interest here was to study the effects of ion irradiation on the microstructural changes in CrN films, and on the changes of their optical properties. It was found that ion irradiation rearranges the layer structure, which influences their optical constants
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