For the highest flows there is another structural change, revealing the development of a third zone, which will be referred throughout the text as Zone II, corresponding to films that the diffraction patterns (again very reduced and quite difficult to index) might indicate the preparation of films that crystallize in a zirconium oxynitride-type structure. The exact nature of this possible oxynitride structure is not yet accurately determined.
Furthermore, by comparing the evolution of the diffraction data of the oxynitride films prepared with low gas flows (from 6 to 8 sccm), it is possible to observe some texture change, decreasing the dominant b111N growth to approximately randomly oriented crystals, with the fcc-ZrN structure. This change could be associated with the increase of nitrogen content of the sub-stoichiometric fcc-ZrN structures (see Table 1).