Objectives
Project Executive Summary
Binary oxynitride-type compounds (Me1Me2OxNy) have received significant attention in recent years due to their original properties compared to their oxide or nitride parents. The project’s intention is to study the chemical, structural, morphological and, consequently, property variation concerning transitional metal-based multiple component oxynitride-type thin films (where Me1, Me2 = Ti, Ta, Zr), obtained by simultaneous sputtering of two metallic targets, with the addition in various proportions of reactive gases (N2 and O2). Novel multifunctional transitional metal binary oxynitride-type thin films will deliver enhanced performance and enhanced cost/benefit ratio for certain applications: protective coatings, microelectronic devices, optical coatings, biocompatible coatings.
The estimated impact on the successful completion of the project can be summarized using the following key points:
i) development of improved material properties for new multifunctional thin films of the binary oxynitride type with improved performance and improved cost/benefit ratio for certain applications (protective coatings, microelectronic devices, optical or biocompatible coatings, etc.); The studied coatings based on ZrTiON and TaTiON showed significant results regarding the potential as a multifunctional material (photocatalysis, corrosion-resistant coatings, coatings with improved mechanical properties, etc.), depending on the processing parameters.
ii) improving the scientific competitiveness of the host institution, in general, and the team of young researchers, which contributed to the facilitation of other collaborations and scientific project proposals; Based on the funding of this project, 8 (eight) ISI WOS articles could be published, 1 ISI WOS accepted article, respectively 3 (three) articles sent for evaluation for publication in ISI WOS journals. The subjects of the articles are related to surface engineering, with an emphasis on the phenomena related to the deposition processes of thin films, respectively on the characterization of the properties of complex materials in the form of thin layers.
iii) solving some of the existing limitations of the current scientific understanding of binary oxynitride thin films, which partially filled the niche that the proposed project set out to cover; Based on the project, articles related to combined oxynitrides (ZrTiON, TaTiON), simple oxynitrides (ZrON), nitrides, carbides, sulfides could be published or sent for evaluation.
iv) the host institution and collaborating partners have benefited from this multidisciplinary collaboration that has produced technical publications in highly visible journals (e.g. Applied Surface Science, Surfaces and Interfaces, Coatings, Thin Solid Films, Journal of Electronic Materials, Materials Chemistry and Physics, Surface Innovations); The collaboration will continue even after the completion of this project based on the results obtained from the BIOXYN project which are currently under analysis, regarding thin layers based on ZrTiON and TaTiON (Series 2 TaTiON: structural, chemical, mechanical, etc. characterization; Series 1 and 2 TaTiON: mechanical characterization of the samples deposited on differentially thermally treated substrates; ZrTiON series: modification of the ratio between Zr and Ti, towards compositions with predominantly Ti content, so TiON doped with Zr), as well as based on new research directions.
This work is supported by a grant of the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, CNCS - UEFISCDI, project number PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2019-1209, within PNCDI III.
