SiNx coatings deposited by reactive high power impulse magnetron sputtering: Process parameters influencing the residual coating stress

The residual coating stress and its control is of key importance for the performance and reliability of silicon nitride (SiNx) coatings for biomedical applications. This study explores the most important deposition process parameters to tailor the residual coating stress and hence improve the adhesi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied physics 2017-05, Vol.121 (17)
Main Authors: Schmidt, S., Hänninen, T., Wissting, J., Hultman, L., Goebbels, N., Santana, A., Tobler, M., Högberg, H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adhesive strength
Applied physics
Biomedical materials
Coatings
Compressive properties
Curvature
Deposition
Disks
Magnetron sputtering
Mass spectrometry
Morphology
Nanoindentation
Positive ions
Process parameters
Residual stress
Scanning electron microscopy
Silicon nitride
Silicon substrates
Surface roughness
X ray spectra
X-ray diffraction
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The residual coating stress and its control is of key importance for the performance and reliability of silicon nitride (SiNx) coatings for biomedical applications. This study explores the most important deposition process parameters to tailor the residual coating stress and hence improve the adhesion of SiNx coatings deposited by reactive high power impulse magnetron sputtering (rHiPIMS). Reactive sputter deposition and plasma characterization were conducted in an industrial deposition chamber equipped with pure Si targets in N2/Ar ambient. Reactive HiPIMS processes using N2-to-Ar flow ratios of 0 and 0.28–0.3 were studied with time averaged positive ion mass spectrometry. The coatings were deposited to thicknesses of 2 μm on Si(001) and to 5 μm on polished CoCrMo disks. The residual stress of the X-ray amorphous coatings was determined from the curvature of the Si substrates as obtained by X-ray diffraction. The coatings were further characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and nanoindentation in order to study their elemental composition, morphology, and hardness, respectively. The adhesion of the 5 μm thick coatings deposited on CoCrMo disks was assessed using the Rockwell C test. The deposition of SiNx coatings by rHiPIMS using N2-to-Ar flow ratios of 0.28 yield dense and hard SiNx coatings with Si/N ratios
ISSN:0021-8979
1089-7550
1089-7550
DOI:10.1063/1.4977812