Chemical Vapor Deposition of AlZrN Coatings by the Reaction of In Situ Produced ZrCl₄ and AlCl₃ with NH₃

Abstract:

Ternary transition metal nitrides are commonly used as protective coatings on cutting tools, owing to their excellent mechanical and wear properties. While AlTiN is a very well-studied material, little is known about AlZrN, in part due to the large miscibility gap in the phase diagram of AlN-ZrN. In this study, AlZrN thin films were prepared using chemical vapor deposition. By the reaction of metallic aluminum and zirconium with HCl gas under elevated temperature, AlCl₃ and ZrCl₄ were produced in situ and subsequently transported into a heated coating reactor with a carrier gas. Due to the high temperatures and the separately introduced mixture of NH₃ and N₂, AlZrN coatings were deposited. By varying the experimental conditions, such as the ratio between ZrCl₄ and AlCl₃, we studied the influence of these parameters on the coating thickness and morphology as well as the microstructure. Additionally, the impact of different sample positions in the coating reactor on the deposited coatings was investigated. Furthermore, the generated samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy.

• Periodical: Key Engineering Materials (Volume 809)
• Pages: 427-432
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.809.427
• Online since: June 2019
• Authors: Elisabeth Rauchenwald*, Mario Lessiak, Ronald Weissenbacher, Roland Haubner
• Keywords: AlZrN, CVD, Hard Coating, TEM

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