SOARES, A. L.; SOARES, André Lopes.
Resumo:
Zirconium nitride (ZrN) and titanium-zirconium nitride (TiZrN) thin films were
deposited on 316L stainless steel substrates using de RF Sputtering methods. Design
of experiment (DOE) has long been recognized as a powerful method to optimize a
complex process in industry. The purposes of present study were to verify the feasibility
and reliability of the application of DOE method on de RF Sputtering processes and
optimize the processing parameters for the deposition process, in which the sensitive
parameters that affected the film properties were also identified. For de RF Sputtering
method, two parameters, deposition rate and time were chosen to be the operating
parameters. After deposition, the thin film structure was characterized by X-ray
diffraction (XRD), and high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (SEM). After the
polarization test, the corrosion analysis was carried out in order to investigate the
relationship between the corrosion initiation and the thickness of the deposited layer.
The analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to assess the sensitive parameters
and predict the optimum conditions. Based on the statistical analysis, the most sensitive
parameters in de RF Sputtering process were both the deposition rate and time. The
optimum deposition conditions in each system were maximum deposition rate and time.