CHARACTERIZATION OF ZrN THIN FILMS FOR LOW TEMPERATURE SENSORS IN DEEP SPACE APPLICATIONS

Abstract

Zirconium-based coatings exhibit a range of useful properties such as high hard ness, high temperature stability, biocompatibility, and good resistance to wear, ero sion, corrosion and oxidation, making them suitable candidates for use in tribological, biomedical, corrosion-resistant, nuclear fuel, electrical and decorative applications. This work aims at fabricating and characterizing a ZrN thin film sensor of thickness between 200 to 300nm exhibiting a low negetive temperature coefficient of resistance using the RF Magnetron Sputtering mechanism. The Partial pressures of the reactive gas was varied in steps such that a low value of negetive temperature coefficient is obtained. it was found that for a ZrN thin film formed under the duration of 30 min utes, the lowest NTCR is obtained at the nitrogen partial pressure of 3 × 10−3mbar and on comparison, exhibits desireable characteristics of sensors suited for deep space applications