RESUMO
The electrical properties of Cr/CrN nano-multilayers produced by Unbalanced Magnetron Sputtering have been studied as a function of bilayer period and total thickness. Two groups of multilayers were produced: in the first group the bilayer period varied between 20 nm, 100 nm and 200 nm with total thickness of 1 microm, and in the second group the bilayer period varied between 25 nm, 50 nm and 100 nm and a total thickness of 100 nm. X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) were used in order to investigate the microstructure characteristics of the multilayers, and the Four Point Probe (FPP) method was used to evaluate in-plane and transverse electrical resistivity. XRD results show (111) and (200) orientations for all the CrN coatings and the presence of a multilayer structure was confirmed through SEM studies. Transverse electrical resistivity results show that this property is strongly dependent on the bilayer period.
RESUMO
Coatings of CrN, TiN, ZrN, TaN and NbN were deposited using an unbalanced magnetron sputtering system with two different degrees of unbalancing to investigate the effect of the degree of unbalancing on both plasma characteristics and film properties. The degree of unbalancing was determined by an extensive characterization of the magnetic field fluxes in the X-Z plane perpendicular to the target. Then, the plasma parameters, such as electron temperature, plasma potential, plasma density and ion current density, were obtained for each target and as a function of the unbalance coefficient. The film microstructure, hardness, corrosion and wear resistant were measured to determine the effect of the degree of unbalancing on these properties. The results suggested that the degree of unbalancing, through the variations induced in the ion bombardment and plasma ionization, had a strong influence on the film hardness, microstructure and preferred orientation.