Influence of nitrogen flow rate on growth of TiAlN films prepared by DC magnetron sputtering

Abstract

Thin films of TiAlN were deposited on (111) oriented silicon single crystal substrates from a composite Ti–Al target by DC reactive magnetron sputtering at 773 K under various N 2 flow rates. Substantial influence of N 2 flow rate on the rate of deposition, grain size, crystallinity, composition, hardness and resistivity was observed. While the deposition rate, grain size and the ratio of concentration of Ti to Al of the deposited TiAlN films decreased with increasing N 2 flow rate, the resistivity of the films increased with increasing N 2 flow rate.

Identifiers

DOI

10.1179/174329407x161627

Citations and references