Influence of nitrogen flow rate on the physical properties of ZrOxN1−x coatings produced by magnetron sputtering

In this work we produce ZrOxN1−x thin coatings and ZrYOxN1−x by DC reactive magnetron sputtering. In order to study the effect of nitrogen flow rates on physical and mechanical properties, the N2/O2 relation was changed between 0.025 and 0.2. The addition of nitrogen to the ZrO2 and ZrO2Y2O3 systems was performed to study the influence on the stabilization of the high temperature tetragonal or cubic phases of ZrO2. X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements were used to characterize the coating structures and to study the influence of nitrogen addition on the high temperature stabilized phases. The residual stresses were also determined by measuring the radius of curvature of the thin-coated substrates. The surface microtopography was analyzed by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and the roughness was evaluated. Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) Spectroscopy was used to assess the thin film composition. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was used to measure the film thickness, to observe microstructure of the film cross-section and to analyze the surface morphology.