Premium
Nitrided Amorphous Stainless Steel Coatings Deposited by Reactive Magnetron Sputtering from an Austenitic Stainless Steel Target
Author(s) -
Cusenza Salvatore,
Jürgens Daniel,
Uhrmacher Michael,
Schaaf Peter
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
advanced engineering materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.938
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1527-2648
pISSN - 1438-1656
DOI - 10.1002/adem.200800228
Subject(s) - materials science , metallurgy , nitriding , austenitic stainless steel , amorphous solid , sputtering , austenite , sputter deposition , annealing (glass) , crystallization , argon , analytical chemistry (journal) , conversion electron mössbauer spectroscopy , composite material , thin film , microstructure , chemical engineering , crystallography , mössbauer spectroscopy , mössbauer effect , nanotechnology , corrosion , chemistry , physics , layer (electronics) , atomic physics , chromatography , engineering
Stainless steel films were reactively magnetron sputtered in argon/nitrogen gas flow onto oxidized silicon wafers using austenitic AISI 316 stainless‐steel targets. The deposited films of about 300 nm thickness were characterized by conversion electron Mö‐i;ssbauer spectroscopy, magneto‐optical Kerr‐effect, X‐ray diffraction, Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, and resonant nuclear reaction analysis. These complementary methods were used for a detailed examination of the nitriding effects for the sputtered stainless‐steel films. The formation of an amorphous and soft ferromagnetic phase in a wide range of the processing parameters was found. Further, the influence of postvacuum‐annealing was examined by perturbed angular correlation to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the nitriding process and phase formation. The amorphous phase is not very stable and crystallization can be observed at 973 K.