Characterization of sputtered zirconium nitride thin films deposited at various RF power and sputtering pressure

Abstract

Zirconium Nitride coatings was developed by magnetron sputtering in the environment of argon as inert gas and nitrogen as reactive gas. In this work study the effect of sputtering power and working pressure on various properties like structural, optical and wettability of zirconium nitride coatings are reported. X-Ray diffraction was used to study the structural properties of Zirconium nitride coating which showed (321) peak of Zr3N4 which was consistent with all the samples prepared. Surface morphology was studied using SEM which showed that the deposited coatings had columnar structure. Optical properties studied using UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometer showed that the films deposited were transparent and showed a maximum transmittance of 75%. The wettability properties observed using contact angle goniometer showed a maximum of 107° and minimum of 98° contact angle which depicts that the coating deposited were hydrophobic.