ZrOxNy thin films were deposited onto high-speed steel
(AISI M2), glass and single crystal silicon (100) substrates, by
reactive dc magnetron sputtering. Details on film preparation
conditions can be found elsewhere [6].
The atomic composition of the as-deposited samples was
measured by Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy (RBS)
using a 1.4 MeV He+ beam and a 2 MeV proton beam to increase
the accuracy in the oxygen signals. The analyzed area was about
0.5× 0.5 mm2
. Ball crater tests were used to measure the thickness
of the samples. In order to examine the film structure, X-ray
diffraction experiments (XRD) were undertaken in a Philips PW
1710 apparatus, using Cu Kα radiation, with a step size of 0.02°,
a counting time of 1.25°/s and a gas detector. Raman measurements
were performed at room temperature with a Dilor triple
monochromator, equipped with a liquid nitrogen cooled charge
couple device (CCD) detector, with a resolution better than
1 cm−1
. The excitation line, 514.5 nm, of an argon ion laser was
focused onto the sample using a ×100 MS Plan objective of an
Olympus Microscope BHSM, in a backscattering geometry. The
spectra were obtained with a measured power of about 10 mW on
the sample, during an integration time of 120 s, over the range
80–1200 cm−1