Effects of post annealing on micro and nanostructural properties of ZrN films prepared by ion beam sputtering technique on SS304

To study the effects of treatment on the microstructure of the films, X-ray diffraction analyses, scanning electron microscopy and Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy were performed. To evaluate the surface hardness of the ZrN films, Vickers method is used. The post annealing of the samples, leads to a decrease of hardness and lattice parameter due to incorporation of oxygen and formation of zirconium oxide phase. The crystallography texture remains (111) but it loses the intensity. It is observed that the thickness of the films decreases after the post annealing treatment.