Properties of VN Coatings Deposited by ICP Assisted Sputtering: Effect of ICP Power

Vanadium nitride (VN) coatings were deposited using inductively coupled plasma (ICP) assisted sputtering at different ICP powers. Microstructural, crystallographic and mechanical characterizations were performed by FE-SEM, AFM, XRD and nanoindentation. The results show that ICP has significant effects on coating's microstructure, structural and mechanical properties of VN coatings. With an increase in ICP power, coating microstructure evolved from a porous columnar structure to a highly dense one. Single-phase cubic (FCC) VN coatings with different preferential orientations and residual stresses were obtained as a function of ICP power. Average crystal grain sizes of single phase cubic (FCC) VN coatings were decreased from 10.1 nm to 4.0 nm with an increase in ICP power. The maximum hardness of 28.2 GPa was obtained for the coatings deposited at ICP power of 200 W. The smoothest surface morphology with Ra roughness of 1.7 nm was obtained in the VN coating sputtered at ICP power of 200 W.