TiN/ZrN heterostructures deposition and characterisation

ZrN/TiN nanostructures with bilayer period of 50 nm were deposited on different substrates (Si and high speed steel) by pulsed reactive magnetron sputtering (RPMS) and radiofrequency beam assisted pulsed laser deposition (RF-PLD). Elemental composition, phase composition texture, roughness, microhardness, bilayer period, thickness and adhesion were determined using Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) techniques, Vickers microhardness measurements and scratch test. Compared to ZrN/TiN nanostructures deposited by RF-PLD, the coatings deposited by PRMS exhibit higher microhardness and smaller surface roughness. No matter the deposition method, ZrN and TiN monolayers were almost stoichiometric (N / Zr = 0.9, N / Ti = 1.1). The TiN/ZrN and ZrN/TiN multilayers with bilayer period of 32 nm were the hardest (≈ 32 and 30 GPa) and exhibited the smallest roughness.