Hardness Optimization of (Cr,Mg)(N,O) Thin Films Prepared by Pulsed Laser Deposition

Chromium magnesium oxynitride ((Cr,Mg)(N,O)) thin films have been prepared by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method with changing the surface area ratio of Mg target (SR) from 0 to 100 %. As a result of the analysis by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), it was found that magnesium content in the total metallic elements (Cr1-x, Mgx) are controlled by changing SR from 0 to 100 % to be the x ranging from 0 to 1.0. Since the crystal structure of main phase in all thin films was found to be NaCl type, the XRD results showed that the thin films were mainly consisted of (Cr,Mg)(N,O). The hardness of (Cr,Mg)(N,O) thin films were increased almost linearly up to SR = 50 %, above which it decreases rapidly. The maximum Vickers hardness (HV) of 3600 was obtained for the thin film which was prepared by SR = 50 %, and the minimum HV of 1650 was obtained for the thin film which was prepared by SR = 100 %.