Electrical Characteristics and Reliability of Ultra-Thin Gate Oxides (<2nm) with Plasma Nitridation

MMT （modified magnetron typed） plasma nitridation and NO anneal are used to treat ultra-thin gate oxides in MOSFETs （metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors）. Dual-peak and single-peak N distributions are formed after nitridation. The dual-peak N distribution shows excellent electrical properties and superior reliability in terms of drain current,channel carrier mobility, and TDDB characteristics. The results indicate a means to extend silicon oxynitride as a promising gate dielectric for developing ultralarge scale integrated （ULSI） technology.

Effects of Plasma Nitriding on Microstructure and Tribological Properties of CoCrMo Alloy Implant Materials

Medical forged CoCrMo alloy was treated by plasma nitriding process.The microstructures were characterized by 3Dprofiler,SEM and XRD.The tribological properties were investigated under lubrication of 25% bovine serum solution.Resultsshow that plasma nitriding is a promising process to produce thick,hard,and more wear resistant layers on the surface of CoCrMoalloy.All nitrided samples showed an important increase in the surface hardness due to the formation of harder CrN andCrN phases with compact nano-crystalline structures.The typical hardness values of HVincreased almost two times thanuntreated one.Under bovine serum lubrication,at low nitriding temperature the Coefficient of Friction (COF) of nitrided samplewas lower than that of untreated sample,but at high nitriding temperature the COF was almost the same as the untreated one.Compared with the untreated sample,the nitrided samples showed lower wear rates and higher wear resistance under differentnitriding temperatures.The adhesive wear is the main mechanism for untreated CoCrMo alloy and the wear mechanisms ofnitrided ones are the fatigue wear and slight adhesive wear.It is concluded that the improvement of wear resistance is ascribed tothe hard nitride formation of CrN and CrN phases at the nitrided surfaces.

Examination of Plasma Nitriding Microstructure with Addition of Rare Earths

Medium-carbon alloy steel was plasma nitrided with rare earths La, Ce and Nd into the nitriding chamber respectively. The nitriding layer microstructures with and without rare earths were compared using optical microscope,normal SEM and high resolution SEM, as well as TEM. It was found that the extent of the influence on plasma nitriding varies with different contents of rare earth. The effect of plasma nitriding is benefit from adding of Ce or Nd. The formation of hard and brittle phase Fe_(2-3)N can be prevented and the butterfly-like structure can be improved by adding Ce or Nd. However, pure La may prevent the diffusion of nitrogen and the formation of iron nitride, and reduce the depth of diffusion layer.

Comprehensive analysis of pulsed plasma nitriding preconditions on the fatigue behavior of AISI 304 austenitic stainless steel

This study aims to draw an exact boundary for microstructural and mechanical behaviors in terms of pulsed plasma nitriding conditions.The pulsed plasma nitriding treatment was applied to AISI 304 austenitic stainless steel at different temperatures and durations.Results reveal that nitriding depth increased as process temperature and duration increase.The nitriding depth remarkably increased at 475℃for 8 h and at 550℃for 4 h.An austenite structure was transformed into a metastable nitrogen-oversaturated body-centered tetragonal expanded austenite(S-phase)during low-temperature plasma nitriding.The S-phase was converted to CrN precipitation at 475℃for 8 h and at 550℃for 4 h.Surface hardness and fatigue limit increased through plasma nitriding regardless of process conditions.The best surface hardness and fatigue limit were obtained at 550℃for 4 h because of the occurrence of CrN precipitation.

Optimization Study of Pulsed DC Nitrogen-Hydrogen Plasma in the Presence of an Active Screen Cage

A glow discharge plasma nitriding reactor in the presence of an active screen cage is optimized in terms of current density,filling pressure and hydrogen concentrations using optical emission spectroscopy（OES）.The samples of AISI 304 are nitrided for different treatment times under optimum conditions.The treated samples were analyzed by X-ray diffraction（XRD） to explore the changes induced in the crystallographic structure.The XRD pattern confirmed the formation of iron and chromium nitrides arising from incorporation of nitrogen as an interstitial solid solution in the iron lattice.A Vickers microhardness tester was used to evaluate the surface hardness as a function of treatment time（h）.The results showed clear evidence of improved surface hardness and a substantial amount of decrease in the treatment time compared with the previous work.

IMPROVEMENT OF MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF MARTENSITIC STAINLESS STEEL BY PLASMA NITRIDING AT LOW TEMPERATURE

A series of experiments were carried out to study the influence of low temperature plasma nitriding on the mechanical properties of AISI 420 martensitic stainless steel. Plasma nitriding experiments were carried out for 15 h at 350℃ by means of DC- pulsed plasma in 25%N2＋ 75%H2 atmosphere. The microstructure, phase composition, and residual stresses profiles of the nitrided layers were determined by optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The microhardness profiles of the nitridied surfaces were also studied. The fatigue life, sliding wear, and erosion wear loss of the untreated specimens and plasma nitriding specimens were determined on the basis of a rotating bending fatigue tester, a ball-on-disc wear tester, and a solid particle erosion tester. The results show that the 350℃ nitrided surface is dominated by c-Fe3N and ON, which is supersaturated nitrogen solid solution. They have high hardness and chemical stabilities. So the low temperature plasma nitriding not only increases the surface hardness values but also improves the wear and erosion resistance. In addition, the fatigue limit of AISI 420 steel can also be improved by plasma nitriding at 350℃ because plasma nitriding produces residual compressive stress inside the modified layer.

Bacteria Adherence Properties of Nitrided Layer on Ti6Al4V by the Plasma Nitriding Technique

The nitrided layer on Ti6A14V substrate was prepared by the plasma nitriding technique. The sample was characterized by X-ray diffraction （XRD）, glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy （GDOES）, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS）, and rough-meter. X- ray diffraction analysis reveals that TiN, Ti2N and Ti phase exist in the nitrided layer subsurface. GDOES analysis shows the thickness of the nitrided layer is about 3 ~tm. XPS analysis shows that there is higher N, lower A1 and lower V in the nitrided layer surface than in the Ti6A14V surface. Rough-meter analysis results show the roughness of the nitrided layer is greater than that of Ti6A14V alloy base. The bacteria adherence property of the nitrided layer on Ti6A14V substrate on the Streptococcus mutans was investigated and compared with that of Ti6A14V alloy by fluorescence microscope. It shows that the nitrided layer inhibits the bacteria adherence.

DC Plasma Technology Applied to Powder Metallurgy: an Overview

DC plasma is a very promising technology for processing different materials, and is becoming especially interesting when low environmental impact and high-performance treatments are needed. Some of the intrinsic characteristics of DC plasma technology, which make it suitable for powder metallurgy （PM） and powder injection molding （PIM） parts production, are low- pressure processing and plasma environment high reactivity. Moreover it can be considered as a highly competitive green technology. In this work, an overview of some of the important DC plasma techniques applied to PM and PIM parts processing is presented. Emphasis is given to the descriptions of the main characteristics and the technique potentials of plasma-assisted nitriding, plasma-assisted thermal debinding, plasma-assisted sintering, and simultaneously plasma-assisted sintering and surface alloying. The aspects presented and discussed in this paper indicate that DC plasma processes are promising and competitive techniques for PM and PIM parts processing.

Characterization and Tribological Performance of Titanium Nitrides in Situ Grown on Ti6Al4V Alloy by Glow Discharge Plasma Nitriding

Titanium(Ti)nitrides were in situ grown on Ti6Al4V alloy(TA)using a glow discharge plasma nitriding(GDPN).The morphology,chemical composition,phase and mechanical property of the obtained nitrided TA were analyzed using a scanning electron microscope(SEM),energy dispersive spectroscope(EDS),X-ray diffraction(XRD),and nanoindentation tester,respectively.The tribological performances of un-nitrided and nitrided TAs were evaluated using a ball-on-plate wear tester,and the wear mechanism was also discussed in detail.The results show that the nitrided layer with the compound and diffusion layers is formed on the nitrided TA,which is composed of δ-TiN and a-Ti phases.The nanohardness and elastic modulus of nitrided TA are 6.05 and 143.13 GPa,respectively,higher than those of un-nitrided TA.The friction reduction and anti-wear performances of nitrided TA are better than those of un-nitrided TA,and the wear mechanism is primary abrasive wear,accompanying with adhesive wear,which is attributed to the formation of Ti nitrides with the high nanohardness and elastic modulus.

Glow Discharge Plasma Nitriding of AISI 304 Stainless Steel

Glow discharge plasma nitriding of AISI 304 austenitic stainless steel has been carried out for different processing time under optimum discharge conditions established by spectroscopic analysis. The treated samples were analysed by X-ray diffraction （XRD） to explore the changes induced in the crystallographic structure. The XRD pattern confirmed the formation of an expanded austenite phase （TN） owing to incorporation of nitrogen as an interstitial solid solution in the iron lattice. A Vickers microhardness tester was used to evaluate the surface hardness as a function of indentation depth （μm）. The results showed clear evidence of surface changes with substantial increase in surface hardness.

Experimental and numerical study on plasma nitriding of AISI P20 mold steel

In this study, plasma nitriding was used to fabricate a hard protective layer on AISI P20 steel, at three process temperatures（450℃, 500℃, and 550℃） and over a range of time periods（2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10 h）, and at a fixed gas N2：H2 ratio of 75vol%：25vol%. The morphology of samples was studied using optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, and the formed phase of each sample was determined by X-ray diffraction. The elemental depth profile was measured by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, wavelength dispersive spectroscopy, and glow dispersive spectroscopy. The hardness profile of the samples was identified, and the microhardness profile from the surface to the sample center was recorded. The results show that ε-nitride is the dominant species after carrying out plasma nitriding in all strategies and that the plasma nitriding process improves the hardness up to more than three times. It is found that as the time and temperature of the process increase, the hardness and hardness depth of the diffusion zone considerably increase. Furthermore, artificial neural networks were used to predict the effects of operational parameters on the mechanical properties of plastic mold steel. The plasma temperature, running time of imposition, and target distance to the sample surface were all used as network inputs; Vickers hardness measurements were given as the output of the model. The model accurately reproduced the experimental outcomes under different operational conditions; therefore, it can be used in the effective simulation of the plasma nitriding process in AISI P20 steel.

Microstructure and Wear Behavior of Ti-6Al-4V Treated by Plasma Zr-alloying and Plasma Nitriding

A duplex treatment of plasma Zr-alloying and plasma nitriding was used to improve the tribological properties of Ti-6Al-4V. The microstructure of the Zr-N composite（alloyed） layer formed on Ti-6Al-4V and its hardness, friction and wear properties were investigated by using OM, SEM, GDOES, EDS, microhardness tester as well as ball-on-disk tribometer. The results of microstructural analysis show that the alloyed layer is compact and uniform and is mainly composed of ZrN, TiN_（0.3） and AlN. A very tiny adhesive and slight oxidation wear is the primary wear mechanism for the modified Ti-6Al-4V. The tribological property is improved significantly after the duplex treatment. The good combination of antifriction and wear resistance for modified Ti-6Al-4V is mainly attributed to the higher surface hardness of metal nitrides formed on the surface and enhanced supporting of the Zr-diffusing layer.

Influence of Processing Parameters on the Mechanical Properties of a Plasma Radical Nitrided SCM440 Steel

Plasma radical nitriding was performed to harden the surface of SCM440 steel for 1-10 h at temperature range of 450-550℃. This process involved the use of NH3 gas instead of N2 gas employed for the well-established plasma nitriding method. No compound layer was formed during this process except the experiment carried out at 500℃ for 10 h. The main phase produced in the diffusion zone was identified to be γ＇-Fe4（N, C）. A diffusion depth increased with increasing treatment temperature and time （up to about 250 μm）. The surface hardness of radical nitrided layer was about two times higher than that of the untreated surface. The tensile test was carried out to estimate the mechanical properties of surface-hardened SCM440 steel prepared at various plasma radical nitriding treatment time and temperature. The influence of radical nitriding treatment on the tensile strength of the specimen was found to be insignificant. The highest value of the ultimate tensile strength was obtained in the experiment carried out at 500℃ for 1 h. However, the elongation was greatly affected by the radical nitriding processing parameters. The maximum value of elongation, which is equal to about 18.1%, was also obtained under the condition of 500℃ for 1 h.

Effect of the Compound Layer of Plasma Nitriding on Thermal Fatigue Behavior of 4Cr5MoSiV1 Die Steel

With the Uddeholm self restricted method, the effect of compound layer of plasma nitriding on thermal fatigue behavior of 4Cr5MoSiV1 steel was studied by the way of adding Ar during plasma nitriding to remove the compound layer. The results show that the compound layer of plasma nitriding can delay the nucleation of heat cracks and hold back the propagation of heat cracks from surface to substrate because of its high hardness and strength. On the other land, the heat checking expands faster with the compound layer on the surface than that without it. After 3000 cycles of thermal fatigue test, both heat cracks with the compound layer are wider than the another without compound layer and the number of heat cracks of the former is more from the view of cross section.

Plasma Nitriding of 722M24 Steel with Pure Lanthanum, Cerium and Neodymium as Sputter Sources

A series of experiments were carried out to investigate the influence of pure rare earth addition on the plasma nitriding response of low alloy steel. For this purpose, pure rare earth metals (La, Ce and Nd) were put into the plasma nitriding furnace as sputter sources during nitriding of 722M24 steel. a variety of experimental and analytical techniques were employed to evaluate the structures and hardening response of the nitrided lavers which included metallography for structural examination, glow discharge spectrometry and secondary ion mass spectrometry for chemical composition profile analysis, X-ray diffraction for phase identification and microhardness testing for hardness profile measurements. The results show that the incorporation of rare earth metals in the glow discharge. during plasma nitriding not only influences the discharge characteristics but also results in the deposition of rare earth atoms and their compounds onto the specimen surface. These significantly affect the response of the investigated steel to plasma nitriding. The extent of the influence on plasma nitriding varies with different rare earth metals.

GROWTH PROCESS OF LOW-TEMPERATURE PLASMA-NITRIDING LAYER ON AUSTENITIC STAINLESS STEEL

The growth process of low-temperaturs plasma-nitriding layer was investigated by scan-ning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The layer is composedof expanded fcc phase (γN), whose lattice parameter of the layer increases with processtime resulting from increasing the nitrogen content. The layer hardness increases grad-ually with nitrogen content. The high slip band density on the layer surface observedin situ by SEM shows that the surface yield occurs when supersaturated nitrogen con-tent in the layer attains to some value, which is also responsible for the increase inlayer hardness.

Improvement in Corrosion Resistance of Anchor Steel by Low Temperature Plasma Nitriding

Plasma nitriding was used to improve the corrosion performance of anchor steel. The microstructure, phase constitution, microhardness and corrosion resistance of the nitrided layer were systematically studied. The results show that the nitrided layer is continuous and dense, and consists of Fe4N and Fe3N in the outmost surface. The microhardness of the nitrided sample is improved because of the formation of nitrides in the outer side continuous layer and the inner parts. The nitrided layer on the surface of anchor steel can effectively improve the corrosion resistance of the anchor steel.

Plasma-nitriding of tantalum at relatively low temperature

The combined quadratic orthogonal regression method of experiment design wasemployed to explore the effects of process parameters of plasma nitriding of tantalum such as totalpressure, temperature and original hydrogen molar fraction on the hardness, roughness and structureof nitriding surfaces. The regression equations of hardness, roughness and structure were givenaccording to the results of regression and statistic analysis. And the diffusion activation energyof nitrogen in tantalum on plasma nitriding conditions was calculated according to the experimentaldata of hardness of plasma-nitriding of tantalum vs time and temperature. The diffusion activationenergy calculated belongs to (155.49 +- 10.51) kJ/mol (783-983 K).

Effect of Treatment Temperature on Iron Nitride Foils Irradiated with Nitrogen Plasma

We investigated the effect of treatment temperature on the magnetic property of iron nitride foils irradiated with nitrogen plasma. The iron nitride foils irradiated with nitrogen plasma were composed of ε-Fe2/3N, γ'-Fe4N and γ nitrogen austenite in α-Fe of the matrix. The saturation magnetization of the iron nitride foils decreased with increasing the surface temperature. The coercive force of the iron nitride foils increased with increasing the surface temperature.

Sheath Characteristic in ECR Plasma Nitriding

The sheath plasma characteristics changing with the negative bias applied to the substrate during electron cyclotron resonance plasma nitriding are studied. The sheath characteristics obtained by a Langmuir single probe and an ion energy analyzer show that when the negative bias applied to the substrate is increasing, the most probable energy of ions in the sheath and the full width of half maximum of ions energy distribution increase, the thickness of the sheath also increases, whereas the saturation current of ion decreases. It has been found from the optical emission spectrum that there are strong lines of N2 and N+2. Based on our experiment results the mechanism of plasma nitriding is discussed.