Structural and Morphological Difference Between Ti/TiN/TiCN Coatings Grown in Multilayer and Graded Form

Abstract

Cytocompatibility of amorphous hydrogenated carbon nitride films deposited by CH 4 / N 2 dielectric barrier discharge plasmas with respect to cell lines Abstract. Thin films can be grown in super-lattice, multilayers and graded form, having each one advantages and disadvantages. The difference between multilayer and graded coatings is the interface. In multilayers the interface is abrupt and in graded coatings it is diffuse. The interface influences many chemical and physical properties of the materials, and its choice depends on the application. Graded coatings have the advantage of having gradual properties such as thermal expansion coefficient and lattice parameter, avoiding adherence problems due to good match between their component materials. In this work the comparison between some properties of coatings grown as multilayer and graded is performed. The materials are produced using the sputtering DC technique because of its facility to control the deposition parameters and generate a slow growth. The target is a disc of titanium and the samples are made of stainless steel 304. The working gases are argon, nitrogen and methane, which are mixed according to the material to be produced, i.e. Ti layer is grown with argon, the TiN film is produced with a mixture of argon and nitrogen, and the TiCN material is obtained mixing argon, nitrogen and methane. These materials are characterized with AFM in order to determine grain size and with XPS studying the chemical composition and performing depth profiles.