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A Comparative Study of the Mechanical and Tribological Properties of Thin Al 2 O 3 Coatings Fabricated by Atomic Layer Deposition and Radio Frequency Sputtering
Author(s) -
Grilli Maria Luisa,
Valerini Daniele,
Rizzo Antonella,
Yilmaz Mehmet,
Song Chen,
Hu Guohang,
Mikhaylov Alexey,
Chierchia Rosa,
Rinaldi Antonio
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
physica status solidi (a)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.532
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1862-6319
pISSN - 1862-6300
DOI - 10.1002/pssa.202100398
Subject(s) - materials science , sputtering , annealing (glass) , scanning electron microscope , thin film , coating , sputter deposition , atomic layer deposition , tribology , atomic force microscopy , hardening (computing) , composite material , x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , energy dispersive x ray spectroscopy , diffraction , indentation hardness , analytical chemistry (journal) , metallurgy , layer (electronics) , microstructure , nanotechnology , chemical engineering , optics , chemistry , physics , chromatography , engineering
Thin Al 2 O 3 films (150 nm thick) are deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) and radio frequency sputtering on Si substrates and submitted to annealing in N 2 atmosphere at 900 °C for 90 min. X‐ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (SEM–EDS), nanohardness, and fretting wear measurements are used to infer the structural, morphological, mechanical, and wear properties of the as‐deposited and annealed films. Results show a higher hardness for the annealed coatings, being the hardness of the annealed ALD coating the highest (18.8 GPa). The measured mechanical properties convey clear trends of stiffening and hardening associated with selected process (ALD versus sputtering) and postprocessing (annealed versus unannealed).