Abstract
To study the influence of the nitrogen vacancy (V N) on mechanical and electrical properties of zirconium nitride deeply, ZrN x films with different V N concentrations were synthesized on the Si (111) substrates by enhanced magnetic filtering arc ion plating. The morphologies, microstructures, residual stresses, compositions, chemical states, mechanical and electrical properties of the as-deposited films were characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectrometry, Nanoindenter and Hall effect measurements. The results showed that ZrN x films exhibited rocksalt single-phase structure within a V N concentration ranging from 26 to 5%. The preferred orientation, thickness, grain size and residual stress of the ZrN x films kept constant at different V N concentrations. Both the nanohardness and elastic modulus first increased and then decreased with the decrease in V N concentration, reaching the peaks around 16%. And the electric conductivity of the ZrN x films showed a similar tendency with nanohardness. The underlying atomic-scale mechanisms of V N concentration-dependent hardness and electric conductivity enhancements were discussed and attributed to the different electronic band structures, rather than conventional meso-scale factors, such as preferred orientation, grain size and residual stress.
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