Influence of deposition parameters on the properties of composite TiN/a-C films
Abstract
Composite films of titanium nitride (TiN) and amorphous carbon (a-C) were deposited on titanium coated stainless steel substrates via magnetron sputtering in a magnetized sheet plasma source. The effect of the deposition parameters, namely, gas ratio and discharge current, on the color, elemental composition, surface morphology, and hardness of the films was investigated. It was shown that the carbon content of the film can be effectively varied with the deposition parameters. For TiN/a-C films, increasing the carbon content with different deposition parameters also increases the hardness of the film. It was also shown that films with different chemical composition (titanium-carbon compound and carbon coatings) can also produced at some extreme deposition parameters.