Structure Stability and Mechanical Property of Y₂O₃ Thin Films Deposited by Reactive Magnetron Sputtering

Abstract:

Y₂O₃ has a great application potential at reaction barrier coating of high-temperature composites due to its high thermodynamic stability and high melting point, and the phase structure stability at high temperature and structure dependent mechanical property are key parameters for this application. Y₂O₃ thin films were deposited on silicon (100) wafers by DC magnetron sputtering with various oxygen partial pressure and substrate bias, and then vacuum annealing at 1000°C was performed to investigate the phase structure stability. The microstructure, stress and hardness of as-deposited and annealed Y₂O₃ thin films were explored by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscope, and nanoindenter. The result showed that as-60 bias voltage was applied to substrate, cubic-c phase formed regardless of variation of oxygen partial pressure, and the cubic-c phase remains stability and crystallinity became better after annealing at 1000 °C.In addition, the hardness and modulus also just had minor changes as a function of oxygen partial pressure. As oxygen partial pressure was kept at 0.043 Pa, phase transition from cubic-c to monoclinic-b phase took place with increasing substrate bias, accompanying by the increment of hardness and modulus, and 1000 °Chigh-temperature annealing resulted in that as-deposited monoclinic-b phase transforms to cubic-c phase.

• Periodical: Materials Science Forum (Volume 898)
• Pages: 1516-1523
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.898.1516
• Online since: June 2017
• Authors: Peng Fei Yu, Kan Zhang, Su Xuan Du, Ping Ren, Mao Wen*, Wei Tao Zheng
• Keywords: e-Modulus, Hardness, Microstructure, Phase Transition, Y₂O₃ Thin Films

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