Structural and Mechanical Properties of Ti-N Films – Abinitio Calculations and Experiment

 In this work, we investigated the effect of film thickness on the structure and properties of Ti-N films deposited by magnetron sputtering. The structural properties of Ti-N films were described, followed by a detailed investigation into their mechanical properties by using theoretical and experimental analysis. The theoretical calculation presented the Rocksalt TiN structure with a lattice parameter of about 4.255 Å, confirmed by X-ray diffraction. The experimental analysis revealed that the structure and the hardness of TiN films varied in a wide range when increasing the film thickness. The structure morphology also changed from a rough to a dense surface and a smooth structure. The hardness and Young modulus of the TiN film reach maximum values of about 26 GPa and 445 GPa, respectively, and then decrease with increasing the film’s thickness. The theoretical values of the hardness and young modulus are in excellent agreement with those obtained for the Ti-N thick films.

Keywords: DFT, Film thickness, Hard coating, Index terms, Magnetron sputtering, Mechanical properties, Microstructure, Nitrogen, PVD.