Effects of Ions on Film Formation of Ti-C-N by PVD

Several effects of energetic ions on formation of Ti-C-N films were observed. Mass spectroscopic analysis showed that Ti+, ions were major ions in the process of ion plating activated by arc discharge. This suggested Ti-C-N formed on the surface of substrates by a reaction of Ti+, N2 and C2H2. Adhesion of films at low temperature (200°C) ion plating was improved more than twice by ion impact at the early stage of deposition. The ion impact induced high density defects, as were observed at the interface of substrates in width of 0.05 μm. High values of film hardness were obtained by ion plating. The grain size of the hard film deposited by ion plating was 10 times smaller than that by vacuum evaporation. The grain size could be affected by the number of nucleation sites on the substrates created by ion bombardment. Effects of energetic ions on the film formation such as re-evaporation of adsorbed atoms, migration, nucleation, chemisorption reaction, and densification in the early states of deposition were discussed.