Ti-Si-N Films with a High Content of Si

Abstract

The article reports on mechanical properties and oxidation of amorphous Ti-Si-N films with a high (>20 at.-%) content of Si reactively sputtered using a closed magnetic field dual magnetron sputtering system operating in AC pulse mode. The films were sputtered from compound targets on Si(100), 15 330 steel and Al2O3 substrates. It was found that (1) the Ti-Si-N films with a high (≥50 at.-%) content of N are X-ray amorphous and exhibit (i) relatively high hardness H ranging from ∼20 to 27 GPa and (ii) high oxidation temperature achieving ∼1 480 °C for the a-Ti-Si-N film on the Al2O3 (sapphire) substrate, and (2) Young's modulus of the films is strongly affected by mechanical properties of the substrate.