Investigation of Titanium Nitride Synthesized by Ion Beam Enhanced Deposition

Titanium nitride films have been synthesized at room temperature by alternate deposition of titanium and bombardment by nitrogen ions with an energy of 40KeV. The component depth profiles and the structure of titanium nitride films were investigated by means of RBS, AES, TEM, XPS and X-ray diffraction. The results showed that titanium nitride films formed by ion beam enhanced deposition (IBED) had columnar structure and were mainly composed of TiN crystallites with random orientation. The oxygen contamination in titanium nitride films prepared by IBED was less than that of the deposited film without nitrogen ion bombardment. It was confirmed that a significant intermixed layer exists at the interface. The thickness of this layer was about 40 nm for the film prepared on iron plate. The mechanical properties of the film have been investigated. The films formed by IBED exhibited high hardness, improved wear resistance and low friction.