Abstract
TaNx coatings were deposited by RF magnetron sputtering with different bias voltages. The growth morphology, crystalline structure, chemical bond structure, hardness and elastic modulus, adhesion strength and tribological performance of the coatings were studied as a function of the bias voltage. The results showed that an increasing bias voltage refines the coating grains and facilitates structure densification. Simultaneously, the structure of the TaNx coatings transfers from a composite structure consisting of TaN and Ta2N crystals, through a single composite mainly composed of the Ta2N crystal, to an amorphous structure as the bias voltage increases from low to high, indicating that the phase composition of the TaNx coatings can be varied by the bias voltage. The coating composed of Ta2N crystal showed a good overall performance including enhanced hardness, enhanced adhesive strength, and good tribological performance with enhanced wear resistance and a low friction coefficient of 0.18.
Highlights
Tantalum nitride (TaNx) coating is attracting increasing attention due to its high hardness, high corrosion resistance, good tribological properties and chemical inertness; and TaNx coating has been extensively used in the microeletronic industry as diffusion barriers and thin coating resistors [1,2,3]
TaNx coatings were deposited by RF magnetron sputtering with various bias voltages
It is found that the bias voltage has a significant influence on the microstructure and composition of the TaNx coatings
Summary
Tantalum nitride (TaNx) coating is attracting increasing attention due to its high hardness, high corrosion resistance, good tribological properties and chemical inertness; and TaNx coating has been extensively used in the microeletronic industry as diffusion barriers and thin coating resistors [1,2,3]. It is believed that the chemical composition and crystalline structure of the as-deposited TaNx coatings strongly depend on the deposition technique and the process parameters, such as sputtering power source (e.g., DC [4], RF [9], pulsed power [10]), N2/Ar ratio [11], bias voltage [12], substrate temperature [13], pressure [14] in the growth chamber, etc. Tan et al [15] carried out a study to compare the chromium nitride coatings deposited by DC and RF magnetron sputtering, and found that the CrNx coatings showed optimized microstructure (dense structure) and properties (high hardness) due to the improved plasma density and ion bombardment from the RF condition. The influences of the bias voltage on the mechanical and tribological properties of the TaNx coatings were absent
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