Mechanical property improvement by texture control of magnetron co-sputtered Zr-Ti films

The present work studies the effect of substrate temperature and film composition on the structural and mechanical properties evolution of magnetron sputtered Zr-Ti films. As-deposited films show a monotonically strengthening (0002) crystallographic texture ranging from ambient temperature to 523 K, while then reveal a (0002) texture to randomly orientated structure transition at higher temperature. High Resolution TEM observations reveal a competitive and reconstruction growth mechanism which is in good agreement with the well-known Structure Zone Model. Nano-indentation measurements revealed that texture strengthening contribute to the improvement of mechanical properties. These results suggest that by establishing a semi-quantitative phase diagram based on the Structure Zone Model, structure and structure-related properties modification can be easily realized and precisely controlled by modifying the TS/Tm region during deposition.