Abstract
Rhenium nitride coatings were deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering technique on H13 steel and polished silicon substrates. To vary the nitrogen content in the ReNx coatings, flow rates of 2, 6, and 8 sccm were used in the nitrogen line gas, while argon flow was kept constant (40 sccm). Different substrate temperatures of 100 °C, 175 °C, and 250 °C were also evaluated. A stack of four Ti/TiN bilayers with a total thickness of 200 nm was deposited, in order to improve the adhesion of the rhenium nitride top layer. X- ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X- ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of the coatings confirmed the formation of ReNx compounds with a face-centered cubic (FCC) structure for all samples produced, together with the formation of rhenium oxides and metallic rhenium. The nanohardness of the coating, measured by atomic force microscopy (AFM), reached values up to 24 GPa. The coating design and hardness value obtained have not been previously reported for ReN synthesized by physical vapor deposition (PVD) and represent an important contribution to the current state of knowledge and a relevant database for future research projects on ReN.
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