中国有色金属学报(英文版)
Transactions of Nonferrous Metals Society of China
| Vol. 14 No. 4 August 2004 |
reactive magnetron sputtering①
（1.Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China;
2.State Key Lab of Metal Matrix Composites, Shanghai Jiaotong University,
Shanghai 200030, China）
Abstract:The amorphous/polycrystalline Si3N4/CrN nano-structured multilayer films have been prepared by radio frequency (RF) reactive magnetron sputtering. The composition, microstructure and mechanical properties of these films were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and nano-indentation. The CrN and Si3N4single layer films are polycrystalline face centered-cubic and amorphous structures, respectively. The CrN and Si3N4layers are nearly stoichiometric. The HRTEM image indicates that the interfaces are planar and modulation structure is clear in multilayers. The hardness values of Si3N4/CrN multilayers are between those of the constituent CrN and Si3N4films at a substrate temperature of 20℃, and are somewhat higher than those of Si3N4 films at a deposition temperature of 500℃. There is no superhardness effect in the Si3N4/CrN multilayers. Based on the experimental results, the hardening mechanisms in the multilayers have been discussed.
Key words: physical vapor deposition; Si3N4/CrN; multilayers; microstructure; mechanical properties
