4.7 Article

Time-averaged and time-resolved ion fluxes related to reactive HiPIMS deposition of Ti-Al-N films

Journal

SURFACE & COATINGS TECHNOLOGY
Volume 424, Issue -, Pages -

Publisher

ELSEVIER SCIENCE SA
DOI: 10.1016/j.surfcoat.2021.127638

Keywords

Ti-Al-N; HiPIMS; Thin film; Mass spectroscopy; Time-resolved

Funding

  1. Austrian Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs
  2. National Foundation for Research, Technology and Development
  3. Christian Doppler Research Association
  4. Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports [LO 1506]
  5. Plansee SE
  6. Plansee Composite Materials GmbH
  7. Oerlikon Balzers
  8. Oerlikon Surface Solutions AG
  9. TU Wien Bibliothek

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In the reactive HiPIMS deposition of Ti1-xAlxN thin films using composite targets, increasing Al content and reducing N flow rate lead to a higher proportion of Al + -ions, while maintaining stable ratios of Tin + -ions. Time-resolved plasma analysis showed that a high proportion of Al + -ions contributed to the growth of cubic Ti0.37Al0.63N coatings with high hardness and low compressive stress.
Time-averaged and time-resolved ion fluxes during reactive HiPIMS deposition of Ti1-xAlxN thin films are thoroughly investigated for the usage of Ti1-xAlx composite targets - Al/(Ti + Al) ratio x = 0.4 and 0.6. Ion mass spectroscopy analysis revealed, that increasing x in the target material or reducing the N-2 flow-rate ratio leads to a proportional increase of the Al+-ion count fraction, whereas that of Tin+-ions (n = 1, 2) remains unaffected despite of comparable primary ionisation energies between Al and Ti. In fact, energetic Ti2+-ions account for the lowest flux fraction incident on the substrate surface, allowing for a high Al-solubility limit in cubic-structured Ti1-xAlxN thin films (x(max) similar to 0.63) at low residual stresses. In addition, time-resolved plasma analysis highlights the simultaneous arrival of metal- and process-gas-ions throughout the entire HiPIMS pulse duration. These ion-bombardment conditions, which were dominated by gas-ion irradiation with a significant contribution of Al+-ions (up to similar to 20 %) and negligible energetic Ti2+-ions, allowed for the growth of cubic Ti0.37Al0.63N coatings exhibiting high indentation hardness of up to similar to 36 GPa at a low compressive stress level (sigma = -1.3 GPa).

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