Abstract
Titanium nitride (TiN) thin films were grown onto 316 stainless steel substrate at 350
°
C by hollow cathode discharge ion plating technique. Since microstructure and mechanical properties of the samples were strongly affected by bias voltage, different bias voltages from 0 to | − 120| V were applied to the substrate. Rutherford back-scattering spectroscopy showed that the film thickness decreased when the bias voltage increased. X-ray diffraction patterns showed that the as-prepared TiN thin films were preferentially grown in the (200) direction with a satisfactory crystal quality at −30 V. The spatial scaling behavior of the TiN films grown by ion coating have been investigated by using the atomic force microscopy as well as a kinetic roughening model for the film thickness ranging from 380 to 590nm. The roughness and dynamic scaling exponents have been independently measured (
α
= 0.7 ± 0.05 and
Z
= 3.03 ± 0.05) and they exhibited a smooth surface growth. Nanohardness showed formation of a film with 30GPa hardness and 285 GPa Young modulus at −30 V bias voltage.