Comparative study of niobium nitride coatings deposited by unbalanced and balanced magnetron sputtering

Niobium nitride (NbN) coatings have many interesting properties such as chemical inertness, excellent mechanical properties, high electrical conductivity, high melting point, and a superconducting transition temperature between 16 and 17 K. For this reason, these compounds have many potential thin film applications. In this work we compare the properties of NbNx films deposited using well-characterized balanced and unbalanced magnetron sputtering systems. Samples of NbN were deposited in the two systems under almost identical deposition conditions, that is, the same substrate temperature, plasma power, gas pressure, substrate to target distance and Ar/N2 ratio. Prior to the film preparation both the magnetic field geometry and the characteristics of the plasma were determined. The microstructure and composition of the deposits were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The corrosion resistance and the micro-abrasion wear resistance were measured by anodic polarization potentiodynamic studies and by ball cratering, respectively. The NbN films grown using the highly unbalanced magnetron configuration had a preferential (111) crystal orientation and a composite hardness of up to 2400 HV0.025. While the films deposited using the balanced magnetron had a mixed crystalline orientation and a hardness of 2000 HV0.025. The results demonstrate the strong effect of magnetic field configuration on the ion bombardment, and the resultant coating characteristics.