Mechanical properties of zirconia thin films deposited by filtered cathodic vacuum arc

Abstract

Surface Young's modulus (E), hardness (H), and yield strength (Y) of zirconia films deposited on Si substrate by filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA) under different oxygen flow rate were studied by nano-indentation measurement and finite element modeling. Identified by X-ray diffraction, the structure of the films evolves from amorphous to monoclinic, and then to amorphous, with oxygen flow rate increasing from 10 to 80 standard cubic centimeters per minute, which affects the mechanical properties of the films. It is found that the elastic-perfect-plastic constitutive model is successfully applied to the films with amorphous structure; however inadequate for the monoclinic ZrO2, indicating that dislocation-related plasticity possibly occurs during nano-indentation.