Structure and Corrosion of Magnetron Sputtered Pure Mg Films on Silicon Substrates

Physical vapor deposition (PVD) was used to prepare pure magnesium coatings on silicon substrates at various argon pressures and deposition angles. The film morphology was observed to depend on the deposition conditions. The approximately 3 µm thick Mg films exhibited columnar growth with voided boundaries and a fiber texture of the basal planes parallel to the substrate surface, which is typical of low temperature deposition. At low pressure and angle, the films were more compact, the surface roughness was lower, the texture was stronger, and the corrosion performance was improved. A free corrosion potential of −1 735 mV and a corrosion rate of 335 µm per year were determined.