FCP Report No. 141

Adhesion, Microstructure and Interface Studies of Evaporated and Ion Plated Copper and Chromium Coatings

by

Jeffrey C. Logas
J. M. Rigsbee

Abstract

This investigation studies the relationships between the structure, the chemistry and the resultant adhesion strength of chromium and copper coatings. The coatings were produced via physical vapor deposition and ion plating (a plasma assisted physical vapor deposition technique) on copper and nickel substrates. Film adhesion, quantified using an epoxy bonded stub pull test, generally increases through the use of substrate sputter cleaning and through increasing the ion plating bias. Many structural and chemical microanalysis techniques, including SEM, TEM, EDX and Auger microprobe, are utilized to characterize the coating, the substrate and the coating/substrate interfacial region. Coating morphology changes from a fully dense and indistinct columnar structure with rounded tops to a less dense, distinct and faceted columnar structure. Energetic particle bombardment from the glow discharge creates a chemically mixed interface and causes a variation in the depth of an equiax grained nucleation layer in the coating.

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