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Nanohardness measurement of carbon nitride thin films
Author(s) -
Kojima Isao,
Xu Wentao,
Fujimoto Toshiyuki
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/sia.1009
Subject(s) - carbon nitride , materials science , indentation , thin film , substrate (aquarium) , nitride , carbon film , nanoindentation , sputter deposition , diamond , carbon fibers , composite material , residual stress , atomic force microscopy , analytical chemistry (journal) , optics , sputtering , nanotechnology , chemistry , layer (electronics) , biochemistry , oceanography , physics , photocatalysis , chromatography , geology , composite number , catalysis
A nanohardness measurement method using an atomic force microscope equipped with a diamond tip is described and applied to carbon nitride thin films. These films were prepared by radiofrequency magnetron sputtering at various substrate temperatures. Based on the general hardness definition, the hardness of thin films was determined directly from the indentation force and the (residual) indentation depth using fused silica as a standard reference. The hardnesses measured by this technique are quite reproducible. The hardnesses of the carbon nitride thin films with a thickness of ∼35 nm were in the range 31–35 GPa, increasing slightly with substrate temperature. This increase is in good correlation with the film density changes as measured by grazing‐incidence x‐ray reflectivity. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.