The influence of the ion bombardment conditions on the oxidation behavior of sputtered TiN coatings

Abstract

In this investigation, the oxidation behavior of TiN coatings deposited by non-reactive unbalanced d.c. magnetron sputtering from TiN targets at different ion bombardment conditions was investigated. The oxidation behavior of the coatings was determined by means of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results obtained indicate that the oxidation behavior of the coatings is related to its microstructure and morphology where coatings with fine-grained dense structures showed the best resistance against oxidation.