Ductile Tantalum Oxide Protective Coatings

AbstractAmorphous, anodic Ta2O5 films of 400 A thickness deposited on deformable polymer substrates deformed by microshear banding even at 5–10% tensile strain. Electron beam evaporated Ta2O5 (EBE) were considerably more brittle in tension on the same substrates, fracturing at strains less than 1%. Even though both films were amorphous to electron diffraction the EBE vibrational spectrum in the Ta2O5 region (900 cm-1 - 400 cm-1) was more reminiscent of thermally oxidized material that appears to have greater microstructural order. A significant dynamic mechanical peak was observed at 60–90°C for both Al and Ta foils coated with either anodic or EBE Ta2O5 films. This process was assigned to relaxation of interfacial stresses induced by atomic motion in the oxide in this temperature range. In the face of the rather similar dynamic mechanical spectra we suspect that the presence of a greater Packing heterogeneity might explain the greater brittleness of the EBE films.