Preparation of Ni-doped stainless steel thin films on metal to prevent hydrogen entry via sputter deposition with a powder target

Abstract

Nickel-doped stainless steel thin films with high hydrogen-entry resistance were prepared on a metal and Si surface via sputter deposition. For this, mixed nickel oxide (NiO) and stainless steel (SUS304) powders were used as the sputtering target. The experimental results indicated that nickel-doped stainless steel thin films could successfully be prepared both on the stainless steel and Si substrate surface. XPS measurements demonstrated that the deposition rate was dependent on the processing conditions such as input RF power, and the thin-film Ni/SUS304 concentration ratio strongly depended on the powder target composition.