Effects of Al content on grain growth of solid solution (Ti,Al)N films
- Department of Manufacturing Engineering and Engineering Management, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong (China)
Substitutional solid solution (Ti{sub 1-x}Al{sub x})N films with different Al contents (0{<=}x{<=}0.41) were deposited onto unheated Si(100) substrates by reactive unbalanced close-field magnetron sputtering in an Ar-N{sub 2} gas mixture. The effect of Al atomic concentration on the sizes of crystal grains during deposition was investigated. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the incorporated Al atoms had an obvious impact on the grain growth of (Ti{sub 1-x}Al{sub x})N films and the average crystal grain size showed an exponential decay with Al atomic concentration. A phenomenological model was proposed to analyze this solute-drag effect occurring during film deposition. It was found that the presence of solute drag in normal grain growth resulted in a low kinetic growth exponent, and the exponential decay in average grain size with solute atomic concentration could be reproduced in our calculations.
- OSTI ID:
- 20776944
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. A, International Journal Devoted to Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films, Vol. 24, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1116/1.2148416; (c) 2006 American Vacuum Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1553-1813
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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