Electrochemical and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry analysis of ultra-thin metal oxide (Al 2O 3 and Ta 2O 5) coatings deposited by atomic layer deposition on stainless steel

► 5 to 50 nm Al 2O 3 and Ta 2O 5 coatings grown by ALD for protection of stainless steel. ► Lower OH and C trace contamination by precursors at higher growth temperature. ► Iron and chromium oxide present at the buried coating/alloy interface. ► Decrease of coating porosity over four orders of magnitude with thickness increase. ► Marked effect of the coating and interface contaminants on the sealing performance. Ultra-thin (5–50 nm) layers of aluminium and tantalum oxides deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) on a stainless steel substrate (316L) for corrosion protection have been investigated by electrochemical methods (linear scan voltammetry, LSV, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, EIS) and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry, ToF-SIMS. The effects of the deposition temperature (250 °C and 160 °C) and coating thickness were addressed. ToF-SIMS elemental depth profiling shows a marked effect of the organic and water precursors used for deposition and of the substrate surface contamination on the level of C and OH trace contamination in the coating, and a beneficial effect of increasing the deposition temperature. The polarization data show a decrease of the current density by up to four orders of magnitude with increasing coating thickness from 5 to 50 nm. The 50 nm films block the pitting corrosion in 0.8 M NaCl. The uncoated surface fraction (quantified from the current density and allowing a ranking of the efficiency of the coating, also confirmed by the capacitance and resistance values extracted from the EIS data) was 0.03% with a 50 nm thick Al 2O 3 film deposited at 250 °C. The correlation between the porosity values of the coatings and the level of C and OH traces observed by ToF-SIMS points to a marked effect of the coating contaminants on the sealing performance of the coatings and on the corrosion resistance of the coated systems.