Characteristic features of formation of structure, composition, and properties of films of refractory compounds

DOI: 10.62564/M4-OG1727

Oleksandr Goncharov^1,2, Ivan Kolinko², Andrey Yunda³, Svitlana Goncharova², Dmytro Shyrokorad⁴, Gregori Kornich<sup>4,5

1</sup>Institute of Materials Science, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Slovak Republic
²Sumy State University, Ukraine
³Institute of Applied Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
⁴National University Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic, Ukraine
⁵Faculty of Physics and Astronomy (EP3), Universität Würzburg, Germany


Functional coatings of refractory compounds, i.e. transition metal nitrides, carbides and borides, having unique physical and mechanical properties, are widely used in various industries [1,2]. Nanocomposite nanostructured coatings of transition metal nitrides and borides due to their high melting point are usually deposited by ion-plasma and magnetron sputtering methods [3,4]. Research of the formation of structural characteristics, physical and mechanical properties of transition metal nitride and boride films, obtained by RF and DC magnetron sputtering, is carried out in this work. It is shown that optimal energy conditions at the deposition are resulted in the formation of a columnar structure (fibrous) and a growth texture of given films. The growth texture (111) with a crystallite size of 10-12nm is formed for both single component (TiN, HfN, etc.) and multicomponent (Ti–Zr–Si–N) films of transition metal nitrides. At the same time, the hardness of multicomponent films is higher compared with single-component TiN and ZrN films. The corresponding tendency is preserved for high-entropy ulticomponent nitride coatings (TiHfZrVNb)N. Depending on the deposition conditions, the texture (111) is formed. In this case, the nanohardness increases up to 44,3GPa, that is related to the characteristics of the resulting electronic structure. Transition metal multicomponent and high-entropy (Hf,Ta,V,W,Zr)B2 diboride films are characterized by the formation of a columnar structure, and a growth texture in the (00.1) plane. It is noted that the physical properties of the resulting diboride films are identical. The nanohardness and the elastic modulus are varied within 44–48GPa and 400–500GPa, respectively, for both mono- and multi-component films.

Keywords
structure, films, transition metals

Acknowledgments
This research was funded by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine within the framework of project No. 0122U000776. O.A.G. acknowledges support from Scholarships (project No. 09I03-03-V01-00028, 2023-2026) The work was also “Funded by the EU Next Generation EU through the Recovery and Resilience Plan for Slovakia under the project No. 09I03-03-V01-00066”.

References
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