Preparation and characterization of CrN thin film by DC reactive magnetron sputtering

Abstract In this work, the DC reactive magnetron sputtering were used to deposit the chromium nitride (CrN) thin films on silicon (100) wafers and 304-type stainless steels in argon-nitrogen gas mixture at room temperature. The effect of nitrogen partial pressure ratios [%PN2 = PN2/(PN2+PAr)×100] on the microstructural were studied. The crystal structure of the prepared CrN films were analyst by X-ray diffraction. For the physical morphological analysis, atomic force microscopy and field-emission scanning electron microscopy were used. An element analysis of the CrN thin films were performed by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). It was found that the deposition rate of the films increased with decreasing the nitrogen partial pressure ratio. The changes in crystal structures and morphological related with nitrogen partial pressure ratio were systematically investigated and discussed in this paper.