The effect of cathode arc current on the structures of TiN thin films prepared by cathodic arc deposition

Abstract

The titanium nitride (TiN) thin films were fabricated by the cathodic arc deposition technique. The effect of titanium cathode arc current on structural, chemical, and morphological properties of thin films was investigated by X-ray diffraction(XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), respectively. The XRD results showed titanium nitride formation with a fcc phase structure for all samples and the preferred orientation changed from (111) to (200) plane with increasing the cathode arc current from 50 to 60 A. The crystallized sizes of the thin films increased as increasing the cathode arc current. In addition, the relationship between the size of the microdroplets on the coating surfaces and the arc current was examined.