Evolution of mechanical property of nanocomposite TiSiN films using reactive magnetron cosputtering

The nanocomposite Ti-Si-N thin flims were prepared by reactive magnetron co-sputtering system. The experimental parameter effect on the evolution of mechanical property of nanocomposite TiSiN Films was investigated. The Ti-Si-N film is a mixed composite consisting of the Ti-Si, Ti-N and Si-N compounds. As Si is added to the polycrystalline Ti-N compound to form Ti-Si-N, the microstructure becomes nanocrystalline grains embedded in a disordered Ti-Si-N or SiN_x amorphous matrix i.e. nanocomposite quasi-amorphous microstructure, which is affected by the experimental parameters of nitrogen flow ratio (FN₂%, 3, 5, 10 %), Ti power (75, 100, 150 W) and Si power (100, 150 and 200 W) during co-sputtering. The thickness, structural, morphology, chemical composition and mechanical properties of films were characterized by alpha-stepper profiler, Grazing Incidence X-ray Diffraction (GIXRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and nanoindenter, respectively. The experimental result shows that deposition rate decreased with increasing FN₂%. According to Scherrer´s formula, the grain size of films was below 5 nm. The surface morphology each film was very smooth due to fine grains. The hardness and modulus of Ti-Si-N can be enhanced by Ti power and reducing Si power. In this paper, the maximum hardness of 24.86 GPa and Young´s modulus of 183.65 GPa was obtained at Ti 150 W, Si 100 W and 5 FN%.