Microstructures and properties of Si3N4/TiN ceramic nano-multilayer films
来源期刊：中国有色金属学报(英文版)1999年第4期
论文作者：许俊华 顾明元 李戈扬 金燕平
文章页码：764 - 767
Key words：Si3/N4//TiN; multilayer films; micro hardness; micro structures
Abstract: The polycrystalline Si3N4/TiN ceramic nano-multilayer films have been synthesized on Si substrates by a reactive magnetron Sputtering technique, aiming at investigating the effects of modulation ratio and modulation period on the microhardness and to elucidate the hardening mechanisms of the synthesized nanomultilayer films. The results showed that the hardness of Si3N4/TiN nano-multilayers is affected not only by modulation period, but also by modulation ratio. The hardness reaches its maximum value when modulation period equa1s a critical value λ0, which is about 12 nm with a modulation ratio of 3: 1. The maximum hardness value is about 40% higher than the value calculated from the rule of mixtures. The hardness of nano-multilayer thin films was found to decrease rapidly with increasing or decreasing modulation period from the Point of λ0. The microstructures of the nano-multilayer films have been investigated using XRD and TEM. Based on experimental results, the mechanism of the superhardness in this system was proposed.
