AVS 53rd International Symposium
    Advanced Surface Engineering Thursday Sessions
       Session SE-ThP

Paper SE-ThP3
Ti@sub x@Al@sub y@Si@sub z@N Films for Super-Hard Coatings Deposited by Reactive Co-Sputtering using Ti, Al and Si Targets

Thursday, November 16, 2006, 5:30 pm, Room 3rd Floor Lobby

Session: Advanced Surface Engineering Poster Session
Presenter: A. Miyamura, Aoyama Gakuin University, Japan
Authors: A. Miyamura, Aoyama Gakuin University, Japan
M. Yamaguchi, Aoyama Gakuin University, Japan
K. Hattori, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan
Y. Sato, Aoyama Gakuin University, Japan
Y. Shigesato, Aoyama Gakuin University, Japan
Correspondent: Click to Email
TiNx is one of the promising hardcoating materials for its high toughness, high hardness and high chemical stability. Recent research goes to add the third element in order to make it extremely harder, higher melting point and higher thermal stability. For example, TixAlyN increases hardness by solid solution strengthening, whereas TixSiyN increases hardness by self-constructing nanocomposite structure. In order to attain more outstanding properties than the both ternary systems, we deposit TixAlySizN super hard films by three cathode co-magnetron sputtering systems. This system can adjust a composition of Ti, Al and Si in the film by controlling the input power ratio of the three cathodes mostly following the additive properties. As a result, TixAlySizN films with various compositions were deposited on silicon or glass substrates. For all the depositions, Ar was used as sputtering gas and N@sub 2@ was introduced as reactive gas. Crystallinity and surface morphology of the films were analysed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscope (AFM). Compositions were estimated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and electron probe micro analyzer (EPMA). A nano-indentation equipped with Berkovich diamond indentor using a continuous stiffness method was used to measure the hardness and Young's modulus along the depth of the TixAlySizN films. With increasing Si concentration, intensity of XRD peaks decreased and the films became amorphous over nearly 20% of Si concentration. It was clarified that the hardest condition could be obtained when titanium concentration was 2-3 times of aluminum concentration and silicon concentration was about 10-20 %. For these films the nanocomposite structure was clearly observed by TEM. This work was partially supported by a Grant-in-Aid for the 21st COE Program from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of the Japanese Government.