Microstructure, mechanical, and corrosion properties of Zr1-xCrxBy diboride alloy thin films grown by hybrid high power impulse/DC magnetron co-sputtering

• Zr 1-x Cr x B y thin films are grown by hybrid CrB 2 -HiPIMS/ZrB -DCMS co-sputtering. Pulsed metal-ion irradiation is more effective in film densification than continuous Ar + ions. Dense 0.46 0.54 2.40 and 0.10 0.90 1.81 alloys hard (>30 GPa) almost stress-free. have good nanoindentation toughness remarkedly low corrosion rate. Hybrid HiPIMS/DCMS co-sputtering technique favorable over conventional DCMS. We study microstructure, mechanical, properties of coatings deposited high-power impulse/DC magnetron (CrB -DCMS). Cr/(Zr Cr) ratio, x, increases from 0.13 to 0.9, while B/(Zr y, decreases 2.92 1.81. As reference, ZrB 2.18 layers at 4000 W columns continual near substrate toward the surface with open column boundaries. find that critical growth parameter achieve dense ratio -dominated ion flux (Zr B) neutral target. Thus, categorized two groups: < 0.32 (low /(Zr ratios) columnar growth, rough surfaces, boundaries, ≥ (high fluxes sufficient interrupt columns, resulting smooth fine-grain microstructure. The pulsed bombardment. stress-free relative 1.3 MPa√m 2.3 MPa√m, respectively, rates (∼1.0 × 10 -6 mA/cm for ∼ 2.1 ).