High-temperature nanoindentation of epitaxial ZrB2 thin films

Abstract

We use in-situ heated nanoindentation to investigate the high-temperature nanomechanical properties of epitaxial and textured ZrB2 films deposited by magnetron sputtering. Epitaxial films deposited on 4H-SiC(0001) show a hardness decrease from 47 GPa at room temperature to 33 GPa at 600 °C, while the reduced elastic modulus does not change significantly. High resolution electron microscopy (HRTEM) with selected area electron diffraction of the indented area in a 0001-textured film reveals a retained continuous ZrB2 film and no sign of crystalline phase transformation, despite massive deformation of the Si substrate. HRTEM analysis supports the high elastic recovery of 96% in the films. ; Funding agencies: Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Linkoping University (Faculty Grant SFO-Mat-LiU) [2009-00971]; Swedish Research Council (VR) [621-2010-3921]