The synthesis of Zr–Nb–N nanocomposite coating prepared by multi-target magnetron co-sputtering

Growth, structure, and mechanical properties of the nanocomposite Zr–Nb–N coatings deposited on Si(1 0 0) at different substrate bias voltages and substrate temperatures were performed by multi-target magnetron co-sputtering system. Extensive measurements were taken to investigate the influences of substrate bias voltage and deposition temperature on microstructure, hardness, elastic modulus, residual stress, critical fracture load. The maximum hardness and elastic modulus was up to 36 GPa and 425 GPa, respectively. The hardest coating also showed the lowest residual stress and the highest critical load. These enhancement effects should be related to nanocrystalline solid-solution microstructure formation and smaller grain size. These Zr–Nb–N coatings appeared to be a promising composite coating system suitable for engineering applications.