Influence of Carrier Gas Composition on the Stress of Al₂O₃ Coatings Prepared by the Aerosol Deposition Method

Materials (Basel). 2014 Aug 5;7(8):5633-5642. doi: 10.3390/ma7085633.

Abstract

Al₂O₃ films were prepared by the aerosol deposition method at room temperature using different carrier gas compositions. The layers were deposited on alumina substrates and the film stress of the layer was calculated by measuring the deformation of the substrate. It was shown that the film stress can be halved by using oxygen instead of nitrogen or helium as the carrier gas. The substrates were annealed at different temperature steps to gain information about the temperature dependence of the reduction of the implemented stress. Total relaxation of the stress can already be achieved at 300 °C. The XRD pattern shows crystallite growth and reduction of microstrain while annealing.

Keywords: Al2O3; aerosol deposition; carrier gas; film stress; room temperature impact consolidation (RTIC).