Influence of substrate bias voltage on structure, mechanical and corrosion properties of ZrO2 thin films deposited by Reactive Magnetron Sputter Deposition

Abstract Zirconium oxide (ZrO2) thin films were grown onto 316L stainless steel by radio frequency magnetron sputtering (RFMS), at different substrate D.C. bias voltages (from 0 to −100 V). The deposition was performed using a pure zirconium target in the presence of an Ar-O2 gas mixture. The characterization of the deposited films was performed using scanning Electron Microscope, atomic Force Microscopy, X-rays diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, nanoindentation and potentiodynamic polarization. The structures of all ZrO2 films are crystalline. The monoclinic phase is predominant in the grounded films (0 V). However, the application of bias voltage depicts a tetragonal phase. Nanoindentation results reveal promoted values of the hardness of the ZrO2 films. Corrosion behavior of the films was studied in Hank's solution using the potentiodynamic polarization method. The comparison between the uncoated samples and the coated ones showed a reduction in corrosion current density for coated samples. The minimum corrosion rate of the film deposited at −100 V was 0.04992 mpy, which is about 18 times less than that of the uncoated steel (0.88135 mpy). The optimum anti-corrosion performance and hardness were obtained for ZrO2 deposited at a bias voltage of −100 V.