Real time spectroscopic ellipsometry study during the growth of nanocrystalline nitride protective coatings

Abstract

Articles you may be interested inMechanism of adaptability for the nano-structured TiAlCrSiYN-based hard physical vapor deposition coatings under extreme frictional conditions J. Appl. Phys. 111, 064306 (2012); 10.1063/1.3693032 Growth and characterization of nanocrystalline zirconium nitride-inconel structures J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 23, 998 (2005); 10.1116/1.1914817 Real-time spectroscopic ellipsometry study of ultrathin diffusion barriers for integrated circuits J. Appl. Phys. 96, 3949 (2004); 10.1063/1.1784621Optical properties of tantalum nitride films fabricated using reactive unbalanced magnetron sputtering Real time spectroscopic ellipsometry ͑RTSE͒ was employed to study the optical, electronic, and transport properties of various classes of nanocrystalline nitride coatings grown by reactive unbalanced magnetron-sputtering. The investigated materials include TaZrN and NbZrN solid solutions, and nc-ZrN/Ag and nc-ZrN/Ni nanocomposites. Film properties were tailored by varying film composition. The following models were used to interpret the ellipsometric data: ͑a͒ effective medium theories describing the heterostructures in terms of their constituent materials and ͑b͒ a combined Drude-Lorentz model describing the optical response of the conduction and valence electrons. A correlation was found between the optical data and the chemical composition using the linear and Bruggeman effective medium approximations for the solid solution and the nanocomposite materials, respectively. The Drude-Lorentz model provided extensive information regarding the optical and electronic properties of the films ͑plasma frequency, electron mean free path, electrical resistivity, and band structure͒. For example, a correlation was made between the conduction electron mean free path and the grain size in nanocomposite films. RTSE findings were confirmed using x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

Mechanical, tribological, and biocompatibility properties of ZrN‐Ag nanocomposite films

“…An improvement in the HSA surface concentration against that of Fib is desirable for the successful functionalization of haemocompatible films. From an ellipsometric measurement, one obtains the ellipsometric parameters Δ and Ψ versus photon energy 20. Ellipsometry is, thus, an indirect method that requires an optical model for quantitative evaluation.…”

“…From an ellipsometric measurement, one obtains the ellipsometric parameters D and C versus photon energy. 20 Ellipsometry is, thus, an indirect method that requires an optical model for quantitative evaluation. Figure 6 gives the measured real and imaginary parts of the dielectric function prior to (e 1-b , e 2-b ) and after (e 1-a , e 2-a ) immersion of the film in the HSA and Fib protein solutions.…”