Preparation and characterization of sputtered TiB2 films

Smooth, continuous TiB2 films were deposited on TiB2−AlN composites and Si substrates by sputtering in high vacuum. Excellent adhesion between films and substrates was indicated; no film delamination was induced by Vickers indentation at high loads. Analyses by secondary ion mass and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopies showed that the films were of high purity and contained H, C, O, N, and Na elements as trace impurities. Quantitative depth profile by the elastic recoil detection (ERD) nuclear scattering technique using 30 MeV 35Cl beam revealed that the Ti/B atomic ratio was very close to 0.5 while the 10B/11B isotopic ratio was 0.250.