Apatite Deposition on ZrO₂ Thin Films by DC Unbalanced Magnetron Sputtering

Arisara Thaveedeetrakul, Virote Boonamnuayvitaya, Nirun Witit-anun

Burapha University.
Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering.

DOI: 10.4236/ampc.2012.24B013                

Abstract

Zirconia thin films deposited on 316L stainless-steel substrate were prepared by DC unbalanced magnetron sputtering from a metallic zirconium target at low temperature with the target-to-substrate distance (d_t-s) of 100 mm and sputtering power of 180 W. High purity gas of Ar as the working gas and O₂ as the reactive gas were used. The depositions were performed for 120 min at a total pressure of 0.5 Pa. The effect of thermal treatment on the HA formation was investigated. The bioactivity was assessed by investigating the formation of hydroxyapatite (HA) on the surface soaked in simulated body fluids (SBF). Films structure, surface morphology and chemical composition of the  ZrO₂ films and HA formation were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and FT-IR spectroscopy. The XRD results demonstrate the  ZrO₂ films are monoclinic phase. The annealed films show the higher film crystalline due to the rearrangement of film structure. After being immersed the samples in SBF, the bone-like apatite was observed on all  ZrO₂ films, but a denser and more continuous HA layer were observed on annealed films due to the crystallinity of ZrO₂ films.

Keywords

Component; Zirconium Dioxide; Magnetron Sputtering; Hydroxyapatite; Simulated Body Fluid

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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