Environmental effects on electrical properties of Cr–Si–Ni resistive films deposited by magnetron sputtering

The present paper investigated the environmental effects on electrical properties stability and long-term reliability of magnetron sputtered Cr–Si–Ni resistive films in 3.5% NaCl, 0.5 M Na2SO4 and 0.5 M HCl solutions at 25 °C, which simulated marine, industrial and acidic environments. The relative resistance change (ΔR/R) for the annealed films revealed that the films had the best electrical properties stability and long-term reliability in industrial environments at 25 °C. After immersion in corrosion solutions for 480 h, the value of ΔR/R for the films was only 0.41% in industrial environments, and the values were 0.56 and 1.96% in marine and acidic environments, respectively. The polarization measurements and AES results indicated that the films presented a spontaneous trend to passivation, and could form a dense and stable protective oxide layer (Si oxide) on its surface rapidly that protected the films from further corrosion in three different environments. Furthermore, the formed passive film in industrial environments exhibited much more protective effects on the films than in marine and acidic environments.