The effect of carbon fraction in Zr(C, N) films on the nano-structural propertiesand hardness

The effect of methane flow ratios f(ch4) in a mixture of ar and n2 gases on the formation of zirconium carbonitridefilms deposited by single ion beam sputtering on aisi 304 stainless steel substrates have been investigated. tostudy this effect on the micro-structure of those films, scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction analyses andrutherford backscattering were performed. surface hardness was also measured using a vickers microhardness tester.the results show that an increase of methane flow ratio leads to a shift of zrn crystalline phase toward zrccrystalline phase through an intermediate phase zrn1-xcx with 0.x.1. the increase of f(ch4) changes also the crystallographictexture from (111) to (220). a maximum hardness of 2520 hv was obtained for x=0.57 which is in accordancewith cohenfs theoretical model.