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

摘要

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 TiAIN films decreased with increasing N_2 flow rate, the resistivity of the films increased with increasing N_2 flow rate.