Effect of deposition time on tribological and adhesion characteristics of niobium nitride thin films

Nitrides are, in general, refractory materials that are used in a wide range of applications such as hard coatings, cutting tools, insulators, microelectronics, and diffusion barriers and so on. The aim of this study is to deposit niobium nitride thin films and to characterize them by atomic force microscopy and X-ray diffraction analyses. The niobium nitride thin films were deposited by direct current magnetron sputtering on silicon Si (100) substrates. Some deposition parameters such as the discharge current, the argon and the nitrogen flow rates, deposition temperature and the pressure inside the chamber were kept constant. The deposition process was carried out at different times, namely 10, 20, 30 and 40 minutes respectively. Atomic force microscopy investigations were performed on the so deposited films to characterize them from the adhesion and tribological point of view at nanoscale and thus, to emphasize the influence of the deposition time on these characteristics. The results highlighted a significant influence of the deposition time on both adhesion and tribological properties of the investigated niobium nitride thin films.