STRUCTURAL AND OXIDATION BEHAVIOR OF NANOSTRUCTURED TiCrN THIN FILM DEPOSITED BY REACTIVE DC MAGNETRON CO-SPUTTERING
Keywords:
TiCrN, Thin films, Hard coating, Reactive magnetron sputtering, Co-sputteringAbstract
Nanostructured titanium chromium nitride (TiCrN) thin films were deposited on Si by reactive DC magnetron co-sputtering technique. The effects of N2 gas flow rates on the structure of the TiCrN films were studied. The crystal structure, microstructure, surface morphology, thickness, composition, and hardness were characterized by GI-XRD, FE-SEM and EDS, and nanoindentation techniques, respectively. The oxidation behavior of the films was carried by annealing in the air. The oxidation activation energies were calculated using the Arrhenius equation. The results revealed that the as-deposited thin films were formed as a (Ti, Cr)N solid solution with the fcc type phase. The films showed a nanocrystalline structure with crystal sizes less than 20 nm. The lattice constants were in the range of 4.144 to 4.181 Å. The thickness of the TiCrN films decreased from 767 to 415 nm with increasing of the N2 gas flow rates. The N content of the films was increased with increasing of the N2 gas flow rates, while the Ti and Cr content were decreased. The TiCrN thin films showed compact columnar and dense morphology as a result of the N2 gas flow rate. The hardness of the TiCrN thin film was in the range of 38.2 to 70.8 GPa. The oxide phases of TiO2 structure with strong preferred orientation (101) plane has appeared from 700C. The oxidation rate was increased from 9.29×10-13 to 1.32×10-12 cm2/s as an increase in annealing temperature. Finally, the oxidation activation energy of 10.98 kJ/mol was calculated in this work.
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