Ti1-xAlxN films were successfully deposited on high speed steel and silicon wafer by plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition using a TiCl4/AlCl3/N2/Ar/H2 gas mixture. Plasma process enabled N2 gas to nitride AlCl3, which is not possible in sense of ...
Ti1-xAlxN films were successfully deposited on high speed steel and silicon wafer by plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition using a TiCl4/AlCl3/N2/Ar/H2 gas mixture. Plasma process enabled N2 gas to nitride AlCl3, which is not possible in sense of thermodynamics. XPS analyses revealed that the deposited layer contained Al-N bond as well as Ti-N bond. Ti1-xAlxN films were polycrystalline and had single phase, B1-NaCl structure of TiN. Interplanar distance, d200, of (200) crystal plane of Ti1-xAlxN was, however, decreased with Al content, x. Al incorporation into TiN caused the grain size to be finer and changed strong (200) preferred orientation of TiN to random oriented microstructure. Those microstructural changes with Al addition resulted in the increase of micro-hardness of Ti1-xAlxN film up to 2800Kg/$\textrm{mm}^2$ compared with 1400Kg/$\textrm{mm}^2$ of TiN.