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Nanocrystalline zirconium nitride/oxide "zirconium oxynitride" nanocomposite film is deposited on zirconium substrate by dense plasma focus device at room temperature. X-ray diffraction of irradiated samples reveals that different phases (ZrN, Zr₃ N₄ and ZrO₂) of zirconium nitride and zirconium oxide are evolved. The crystallinity of these phases depends on axial positions as well as ion energy flux. Scanning electron microscopy shows that the deposited film is more compact at lower axial position, which is due to higher ion energy flux. Energy dispersive X-rays spectroscopy shows that the presence of nitrogen concentration decreases by increasing the axial position. Maximum microhardness value for the deposited layer is found to be 7200 ± 12 MPa at 10 gram imposed load.

In this work, modification in structural and electrical properties of zirconium nitride (ZrN) thin films induced by silicon-ion irradiation is studied. ZrN thin films are grown on glass substrate over Zirconium (Zr) layer using cathodic arc evaporation method. The samples of the film are irradiated with silicon ions of energy 2.08 MeV at different fluences ranging from $5\times 10^{13}$ ions/cm${}^{-2}$ to $5\times 10^{15}$ ions/cm${}^{-2}$. The structural and electrical properties of the prepared films are investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and four-point probe method. XRD analysis shows significant shift in the peak corresponding to (111) crystallographic plane of ZrN at low fluence ($5\times 10^{13}$ ions/cm${}^{-2}$) while modest peak shift at high fluence rate ($5\times 10^{15}$ ions/cm${}^{-2}$) is observed. Under the electrical properties point of view, it is observed that the decrease in resistivity is small at high ion fluence as compared to that at low ion fluence. At highest fluence of $5\times 10^{15}$ ions/cm${}^{-2}$, resistivity of the irradiated sample approaches the resistivity of the un-irradiated sample indicating very small changes in structure at very high dose irradiance.