The role of negative substrate bias voltage in influencing the microstructural evolution, along with the mechanical and scratch behavior of magnetron sputtered Ni–Zr alloyed thin films, has been investigated. The films have been deposited on a Si(100) substrate by direct current (DC) magnetron co-sputtering of high-purity elemental Ni and Zr targets, using an optimized target power in an argon atmosphere at room temperature by altering the negative substrate bias voltage (0 to −80 V). The increase in negative substrate bias voltages leads to an increase in Zr content of the investigated films. The characterization techniques such as grazing incidence X-ray diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy studies confirm that an increase in the negative substrate bias voltage leads to an increase in the volume fractions of amorphous phase and Ni3Zr, but a decrease in the deposition rate, surface roughness, and average grain sizes. Hardness and Young's modulus obtained by nanoindentation, along with the coefficient of friction obtained from nano-scratch experiments, appear to be related to the relative volume fractions of both nanocrystalline and the amorphous phase. Furthermore, increase in Ni3Zr volume fraction with decrease in grain size within the crystalline part of the film, with increase in substrate bias used during deposition may have contributed to both increase in both hardness and scratch resistance.

研究了负衬底偏置电压在影响微结构演变以及磁控溅射Ni-Zr合金薄膜的机械性能和刮擦性能方面的作用。通过在室温下在氩气气氛中使用优化的靶功率，通过改变负衬底偏置，通过优化的高纯度元素Ni和Zr靶的直流（DC）磁控管共溅射，将膜沉积在Si（100）衬底上电压（0至-80 V）。负衬底偏置电压的增加导致所研究膜的Zr含量增加。3 Zr，但沉积速率，表面粗糙度和平均晶粒尺寸减小。通过纳米压痕获得的硬度和杨氏模量，以及通过纳米划痕实验获得的摩擦系数，似乎与纳米晶相和非晶相的相对体积分数有关。此外，随着膜中结晶部分内晶粒尺寸的减小，Ni3Zr体积分数的增加以及沉积过程中所用衬底偏压的增加可能有助于硬度和耐刮擦性的提高。