Artículos SCI

This paper presents a study of the mechanical properties and an evaluation of damage mechanisms of nanocolumnar TiO2-SiO2 multilayer coatings prepared by physical vapour oblique angle deposition at different configurations (slanted, zigzag or chiral) and two zenithal evaporation angles (70 degrees or 85 degrees). The characterization at micro-and nanometric length scales of the mechanical properties of the multilayers has been carried out by nanoindentation and nanoscratch tests, while the morphological evaluation of the surface and sub-surface damages produced with a sharp indenter and the adhesive and/or cohesive failures between coating and substrate have been investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy and focused ion beam, respectively. The obtained results have shown that the main processing parameters controlling the mechanical response of the different multilayers is the zenithal angle of deposition and the number of layers in the multilayer stack, while the coating architecture had only a minor effect on the mechanical response. This analysis also revealed a higher resistance to scratch testing and a brittle failure behaviour for the low zenithal angle coatings as compared with the high angle ones.

In X-ray excited photoelectron emission (XPS), besides the initial excitation process, the shape and intensity of photoelectron peaks are strongly affected by extrinsic excitations due to electron transport out of the surface (including bulk and surface effects) and to intrinsic excitations due to the sudden creation of the static core hole. To make an accurate quantitative interpretation of features observed in XPS, these effects must be included in the theoretical description of the emitted photoelectron spectra. It was previously shown [N. Pauly, S. Tougaard, F. Yubero, Surf. Sci. 620 (2014) 17] that these three effects can be calculated by means of the QUEELS-XPS software (Quantitative analysis of Electron Energy Losses at Surfaces for XPS) in terms of effective energy-differential inelastic electron scattering cross-sections. The only input needed to calculate these cross-sections is the energy loss function of the media which is determined from analysis of Reflection Electron Energy Loss Spectra (REELS). The full XPS spectrum is then modeled by convoluting this energy loss cross-section with the primary excitation spectrum that accounts for all effects which are part of the initial photo-excitation process, i.e. lifetime broadening, spin-orbit coupling, and multiplet splitting. In this paper we apply the previously presented procedure to the study of Ni 2p photoemission in NiO and Ni diluted in a SiO2 matrix (Ni:SiO2), samples being prepared by reactive magnetron sputtering at room temperature. We observe a significant difference between the corresponding Ni 2p primary excitation spectra. The procedure allows quantifying the relative intensity of the c3d(9)L, c3d(10)L(2), and c3d(8) final states contributing to the Ni 2p photoemission spectra of the Ni2+ species in the oxide matrices. Especially, the intensity ratio in NiO between the non-local and local contributions to the 3d(9)L configuration is determined to be 2.5. Moreover the relative intensity ratio of the c3d(9)L/c3d(10)L(2)/c3d(8) configurations is found to be 1.0/0.83/0.11 for both the NiO and Ni:SiO2 samples.