Inductively Coupled Plasma Assisted Magnetron Sputtered Nanocrystalline Vanadium Nitride Coatings for Corrosion Protective Molds

Nanocrystalline vanadium nitride (VN) coatings for corrosion protective molds with various ICP powers have been prepared using ICP assisted magnetron sputtering. The applied ICP power was varied from 0 to 200 W. The deposited coatings were characterized using X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Single VN phased coatings with nano-grain sized (<3.7 nm) were identified. The corrosion resistance and hardness of each coating were evaluated with potentiostat and nanoindentator. Superior corrosion protective coatings in excess of 28.2 GPa were deposited with assistance of ICP plasma during sputtering.