A series of monolithic and multilayer coatings of chromium nitride with var
ious compositions and architectures were deposited at low temperatures (< 2
00 degreesC) on silicon substrates using ion-assisted reactive magnetron sp
uttering. All coatings had a total thickness in the 1.5 +/- 0.3 mum range.
The multilayer coatings were designed such that their period and CrN fracti
on varied in the range 30-150 nm and 0.50-0.93, respectively. Real-time in
situ ellipsometry was used to monitor and control the deposition process. T
he deposited coatings were characterized post-deposition using X-ray diffra
ction (XRD): Rutherford backscattering (RBS), X-ray photoelectron spectrosc
opy (XPS), and spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE). The primary chromium nitrid
e phases (Cr2N and CrN) in the films were identified using XRD. The chemica
l composition of selected samples was determined from RES and XPS measureme
nts. The phase composition of the deposited layers was deduced from the ana
lysis of the SE data. The mechanical properties of the coatings were evalua
ted using a nanoindenter. The measured hardness values were in excess of 20
GPa. The results of the different characterization and testing techniques
were correlated and follow-up work on this project suggested. (C) 2001 Else
vier Science B.V. All rights reserved.