Characterization of sputtered zirconium nitride films deposited at various argon:nitrogen ratio

Abstract

Zirconium nitride films were deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering using argon as inert gas and nitrogen as reactive gas. The nitrogen flow rate in argon:nitrogen ratio was increased from 4sccm to 20sccm by an increment of 4sccm. The effect of increment in nitrogen flow rate on various properties of deposited zirconium nitride films are reported in this paper. The structural characterization was done by X-Ray diffraction which confirms (011) peak of Zr3N4 and a very low intensity (111) peak of Zr3N4. Optical properties was investigated by Uv-Vis-NIR spectrophotometer which showed that the films were transparent and maximum transmittance observed was around 82%. The wettability properties was investigated by contact angle goniometer which showed the films were hydrophobic and maximum contact angle achieved was 99.50.