Cathodic arc deposition of nanocrystalline titanium nitride thin film on fluorine doped tin oxide coated glass substrate: Crystal structural, microstructural, mechanical, optical and electrical properties

The nanocrystalline titanium nitride (TiN) films were deposited on fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) coated glass substrates for the first time by cathodic arc deposition. The crystalline phase and orientation, growth morphology, surface roughness, hardness, scratch adhesion, electrical resistivity, optical absorption and bandgap of the TiN films were investigated. The GI-XRD confirmed the formation of cubic TiN and crystallographic orientation growth. The 2150 nm thick TiN film showed (111) orientation due to columnar growth patterns, while the 650 nm TiN film formed with the (200) orientation. The grain size of TiN films was 50–200 nm by FESEM and AFM analyses, and it was formed as elongated nanocrystals of 65–125 nm width and 120–250 nm lengths. The microhardness of the 650, 1000 and 2150 nm TiN thin films was measured to be 836, 943 and 1281 HV0.05 respectively. The scratch adhesion test demonstrated a good adhesive strength up to a critical load of 10 N and beyond the delamination occurred. The electrical resistivity of TiN film found to vary with thickness, the 650 nm TiN film showed a low resistivity of 16 × 10-6 Ω cm, which is comparable with the electrical resistivity of platinum and magnetron sputtered TiN film. The UV-Vis-NIR diffused reflectance spectroscopic studies of the TiN thin film showed a sharp absorption at 448 nm due to plasmon absorption and Tauc plot showed direct band gap of 2.1 eV. The results demonstrated that cathodic arc deposited nanocrystalline TiN thin film deposited on FTO glass substrate can be used as counter electrode for dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) applications.