Aluminium surface modification by nitrogen–argon mixture PIII

H. Millán–Flores, R. López–Callejas^1,2*, E. E. Granda–Gutiérrez¹, A. de la Piedad–Benítez¹, A. E. Muñóz–Castro², R. Valencia A.², R. Peña–Eguiluz², A. Mercado–Cabrera², S. R. Barocio²

¹ Instituto Tecnológico de Toluca AP 890, Toluca, Estado de México, México. E–mail: *regulo.lopez@inin.gob.mx.

² Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Nucleares AP 18–1027, 11801 México DF.

Recibido: 5 de marzo de 2009.
Aceptado: 29 de mayo de 2009.

Abstract

Pure nitrogen, 30% argon/70% nitrogen, 50% argon/50% nitrogen, 70% argon/30% nitrogen plasma immersion ion implantation (PIII) processes onto aluminium samples has been performed at 2 to 6 kV negative bias and 50 to 150 us pulse widths, the sample temperature being established at 400 °C. Incident fluencies of ~10¹⁸ atoms/cm² were used to investigate the diffusion behaviour and AlN phase formation in the samples. X–ray diffraction (XRD) shows the formation of the cubic phase of AlN with both pure nitrogen and all the mixtures whereas the hexagonal phase becomes apparent only in the 50% mixture and in pure nitrogen. The characteristic peak of AlN has also been determined by Raman spectroscopy. The microhardness was found to be always maximal with the 50% nitrogen 50% argon mixture.

Keywords: plasma immersion ion implantation, X–ray diffraction, hardness, scanning electron microscopy, surface modification.

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