Mechanical and Structural Properties of TiC and TiCN Thin Films Grown by RF Sputtering

TiC and TiCN thin films were deposited by RF sputtering from a TiC target. For TiC thin films, the various sputtering pressure were carried out in order to observe the influence of this parameter on structural and mechanical properties. The experimental results show that a pressure of 1 Pa is necessary to obtain stoichiometric films with texture. Lower pressures induce the formation of distorted titanium carbide, while RBS spectra show that the Ti/C ratio is constant for all these samples. Both the compressive stress and the hardness exhibited a maximum value for the lowest pressures. For TiCN thin films, the composition and the hardness were investigated as function of the N 2 partial pressure (P N2 = 3% to 70%).