Structural,morphological and mechanical properties of niobium nitride thin films grown by ion and electron beams emanated from plasma |
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| Authors: | Jamil Siddiqui Riaz Ahmad Zeeshan A Umar Ubair Abdus Samad |
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| Institution: | 1. Centre for Advanced Studies in Physics, GC University, Lahore, Pakistan;2. Department of Physics, GC University, Lahore, Pakistan;3. National Centre for Physics, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan;4. Center of Excellence for Research in Engineering Materials (CEREM), Advance Manufacturing Institute, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
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| Abstract: | The influence of variation in plasma deposition parameters on the structural, morphological and mechanical characteristics of the niobium nitride films grown by plasma-emanated ion and electron beams are investigated. Crystallographic investigation made by X-ray diffractometer shows that the film synthesized at 10?cm axial distance with 15 plasma focus shots (PFS) exhibits better crystallinity when compared to the other deposition conditions. Morphological analysis made by scanning electron microscope reveals a definite granular pattern composed of homogeneously distributed nano-spheroids grown as clustered particles for the film synthesized at 10?cm axial distance for 15 PFS. Roughness analysis demonstrates higher rms roughness for the films synthesized at shorter axial distance and by greater number of PFS. Maximum niobium atomic percentage (35.8) and maximum average hardness (19.4?±?0.4?GPa) characterized by energy-dispersive spectroscopy and nano-hardness analyzer respectively are observed for film synthesized at 10?cm axial distance with 15 PFS. |
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| Keywords: | NbN thin films DPF XRD SEM AFM nano-hardness |
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