• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.393-398
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• 2023

Properties of hafnium nitride (HfN) coatings are affected by deposition conditions, most often by the sputtering technique. Appropriate use of different magnetron sputtering modes allows control of the structural development of the film, thereby enabling adjustment of its properties. This study compared properties of HfN coatings deposited by direct current magnetron sputtering (dcMS), mid-frequency direct current magnetron sputtering (mfMS), and inductively coupled plasma-assisted magnetron sputtering (ICPMS) systems. The microstructure, crystalline, and mechanical properties of these HfN coatings were investigated by field emission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, and nanoindentation measurements. HfN coatings deposited using ICPMS showed smooth and highly dense microstructures, whereas those deposited by dcMS showed rough and columnar structures. Crystalline structures of HfN coatings deposited using ICPMS showed a single δ-HfN phase, whereas those deposited using dcMS and mfMS showed a mixed δ-HfN and HfN_0.4 phases. Their performance were increased in the order of dcMS < mfMS < ICPMS, with ICPMS achieving a value of 47.0 GPa, surpassing previously reported results.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.49.2-49.2
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• 2010

Copper oxide films have been deposited on silicon substrates by direct current magnetron sputtering of Cu in O2 / Ar gas mixtures. The target oxidation occurring as a result of either adsorption or ion-plating of reactive gases to the target has a direct effect on the discharge current and the resulting composition of the deposited films. The kinetic model which relates the target oxidation to the discharge current was proposed, showing the one-to-one relationship between discharge current characteristics and film stoichiometry of the deposited films.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.30-35
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• 2023

Hafnium nitride (HfN) thin films were fabricated by mid-frequency magnetron sputtering (mfMS) and direct current magnetron sputtering (dcMS) and their mechanical and structural properties were compared. In particular, changes in the HfN film properties were observed by changing the pulse frequency of mfMS between 5 kHz, 15 kHz, and 30 kHz. The crystalline structure, microstructure, 3D morphology, and mechanical properties of the HfN films were compared by x-ray diffraction, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and nanoindentation tester, respectively. HfN film deposited by mfMS showed a smoother and denser microstructure as the frequency increased, whereas the film deposited by dcMS showed a rough and sloppy microstructure. A single δ-HfN phase was observed in the HfN film made by mfMS with a pulse frequency of 30 kHz, but mixed δ-HfN and HfN_0·4 phases were observed in the HfN film made by dcMS. The mechanical properties of HfN film made by mfMS were improved compared to film made by dcMS.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.104.1-104.1
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• 2007

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.112-117
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• 2021

Inductively coupled plasma magnetron sputtering (ICPMS) has the advantage of being able to dramatically improve coating properties by increasing the plasma ionization rate and the ion bombardment effect during deposition. Thus, this paper presents the comparative results of CrN films deposited by direct current magnetron sputtering (dcMS) and ICPMS systems. The structure, microstructure, and mechanical and corrosive properties of the CrN coatings were investigated by X-ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscopy, nanoindentation, and corrosion-resistance measurements. The as-deposited CrN films by ICPMS grew preferentially on a 200 plane compared to dcMS on a 111 plane. As a result, the films deposited by ICPMS had a very compact microstructure with high hardness. The nanoindentation hardness reached 19.8 GPa, and 13.5 GPa by dcMS. The corrosion current density of CrN film prepared by ICPMS was about 9.8 × 10^-6 mA/cm², which was 1/470 of 4.6 × 10^-3 mA/cm², the corrosion current density of CrN film prepared by dcMS.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2000.05a
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• pp.27-28
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• 2000

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.33-34
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• 2001

• Journal of Information Display
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.5-10
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• 2007

Twin target sputtering (TTS) system with a configuration of vertically parallel facing Al targets and a substrate holder perpendicular to the Al target plane has been designed to realize a direct Al cathode sputtering on organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). The TTS system has a linear twin target gun with ladder type magnet array for effective and uniform confinement of high density plasma. It is shown that OLEDs with Al cathode deposited by the TTS show a relatvely lower leakage current density $({\sim}1{\times}10^{-5}mA/cm^2)$ at reverse bias of -6V, compared to that ($1{\times}10^{-2}{\sim}10^{-3}$ $mA/cm^2$ at -6V) of OLEDs with Al cathodes grown by conventional DC magnetron sputtering. In addition, it was found that Al cathode films prepared by TTS were amorphous structure with nanocrystallines due to low substrate temperature. This demonstrates that there is no plasma damage caused by the bombardment of energetic particles. This indicates that the TTS system with ladder type magnet array could be useful plasma damage free deposition technique for direct Al cathode sputtering on OLEDs or flexible OLEDs.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.70-76
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• 2022

In this paper, we compared the properties of the chromium nitride (CrN) films prepared by inductively coupled plasma magnetron sputtering (ICPMS). As a comparison, CrN film prepared by a direct current magnetron sputtering (dcMS) is also studied. The crystal structure, surface and cross-sectional microstructure and composite properties of the as-deposited CrN films are compared by x-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, nanoindentation tester and corrosion resistance tester, respectively. It is found that the as-deposited CrN films by ICPMS grew preferentially on (200) plane when compared with that by dcMS on (111) plane. As a result, the films deposited by ICPMS have a very compact microstructure with high hardness: the nanoindentation hardness reached 19.8 GPa and 13.5 GPa by dcMS, respectively. Besides, the residual stress of CrN films prepared by ICPMS is also relatively large. After measuring the corrosion resistance, the corrosion current of films prepared by ICPMS was three order of magnitude smaller than that of CrN films deposited by dcMS.

• Journal of Ceramic Processing Research
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• v.13 no.spc2
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• pp.403-406
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• 2012

Effect of thickness on ZnO properties including the compositional ratio and crystallinity has been systematically investigated using a variety of characterization tools of x-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, x-ray fluorescence and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Interestingly, it was observed that ZnO films below 80 nm in thickness were in oxygen deficiency, while the oxygen ratio was increased in the films above the thickness, although the compositional ratio of ZnO film was not linearly varied with increasing film thickness. Also, ZnO crystallinity, which is characterized by (002) diffraction pattern, was clearly improved with increasing film thickness. The properties of ZnO film with different sputtering time and the nature of direct current reactive sputtering process were discussed in terms of compositional ratio, especially oxygen ratio in ZnO film.