| AVS 62nd International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Atom Probe Tomography Focus Topic | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session AP+AS-TuM |
| Session: | New Applications of Atom Probe Tomography |
| Presenter: | David Engberg, Linköping University, Sweden |
| Authors: | D.L.J. Engberg, Linköping University, Sweden L.J.S. Johnson, Sandvik Coromant, Sweden M.P. Johansson-Jöesaar, SECO Tools AB, Sweden M. Odén, Linköping University, Sweden M. Thuvander, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden L. Hultman, Linköping University, Sweden |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
TiSiN is one of the most important materials for commercial wear resistant coatings on cutting tools. Understanding of the growth and structure of these coatings has become increasingly important for optimizing their performance. Yet knowledge regarding the solid solubility, distribution, and stoichiometry of SiNy has been lacking in the complex metastable TiN-SiN structure. Atom probe tomography (APT) in combination with analytical electron microscopy provides a way to attain compositional information in 3D on the nanometer scale. However, mass spectrum overlaps of N and Si ions have so far prevented such APT analyses. By growing TiSiN coatings with 15N using cathodic arc deposition, we show that the mass spectrum overlaps of Si and N can be largely avoided. TiSi15N films of two compositions, Ti0.81Si0.1915N and Ti0.92Si0.0815N in a predominantly cubic structure, have been studied using APT. We find evidence of Si-Si clustering on the nanometer scale, while there are no indications of overstoichiometric SiNy (y ≈ 1).