Effect of nitrogen ion implantation on structural and microstructural properties of reactive magnetron sputtered TiN thin films

Abstract

Nitrogen ions with different doses were implanted into titanium nitride (TiN) thin films coated on mild steel substrate at 100 keV with doses of 5×10¹⁵ and 5×10¹⁶ ions/cm⁻². The samples were characterised by X‐ray diffraction and found to have fcc structure with preferential orientation along the (200) plane. The presence of nitride (TiN), oxynitride (TiO_xN_y) and oxide (TiO₂) were identified on the surface of the film as observed from X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis. Scanning electron microscopy image analysis of implanted samples showed changes in the surface after ion implantation. Energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy was used to determine the chemical composition of as prepared and ion implanted samples. The surface topography was studied by atomic force microscopy. Characteristic peaks were observed in the 150–300 and 400–600 cm⁻¹ ranges from laser Raman studies.

Keywords:

• Titanium nitride
• Hard coatings
• Magnetron sputtering
• Ion implantation

The authors would like to thank Dr K. G. M. Nair and Mr P. Santhanaraman for ion implantation assistance at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, India. One of the authors (BS) thanks the Department of Atomic Energy, Board of Research in Nuclear Science, Mumbai, India, for a research grant (sanction no. 2006/37/37/BRNS/2068).