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Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. 42, 145-151 (2008)
DOI: 10.1051/epjap:2008052
Deposition of titanium nitride on AISI-304 in a plasma focus environment
S. Zeb1, A. Qayyum2, M. Shafiq1 and M. Zakaullah11 Department of Physics, Quaid-i-Azam University, 45320 Islamabad, Pakistan
2 National Tokamak Fusion Program 3329, Islamabad, Pakistan
mzakaullah@qau.edu.pk
(Received: 9 December 2006 / Received in final form: 11 December 2007 / Accepted: 23 January 2008 / Published online: 29 April 2008)
Abstract
Polycrystalline, smooth, and hard thin films of TiN are successfully
deposited on AISI-304 substrates using a 1.5 kJ Mather-type dense plasma
focus device charged at 18 kV. The purpose of this study is to investigate
the structural and mechanical properties of the TiN thin films in terms of
ion dose and substrate position to establish the optimum deposition
conditions. The films are analyzed using XRD, SEM, electron microprobe and
micro-hardness testing. XRD confirms the deposition of a polycrystalline TiN
thin film together with the emergence of an iron chromium nickel phase. The
surface hardness-in comparison to the unexposed substrate-is found to
increase up to 250% when a film is deposited using 30 focus shots at an
axial distance of 6 cm. SEM micrographs show that the quality of the film is
improved with an increasing number of focus shots. The constituent elements
of the film are also confirmed by electron microprobe.
77.84.Bw - Elements, oxides, nitrides, borides, carbides, chalcogenides, etc.
81.40.Cd - Solid solution hardening, precipitation hardening, and dispersion hardening; aging.
81.40.Ef - Cold working, work hardening; annealing, post-deformation annealing, quenching, tempering recovery, and crystallization.
68.37.Hk - Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) (including EBIC).
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