Title: Model of reactive sputtering process in deposition of TiAlN coating

Authors: Esmar Budi, Mohd. Razali Bin Muhamad, Saifudin Hafiz Bin Yahaya, Md. Nizam Bin Abdul Rahman

Addresses: Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM), Karung Berkunci No 1752 Pejabat Pos Durian Tunggal 76109, Melaka, Malaysia; Physics Department of Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, Universitas Negeri Jakarta, Jl. Pemuda No. 10 Rawamangun Jakarta, 13220, Indonesia. ' Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM), Karung Berkunci No. 1752 Pejabat Pos Durian Tunggal 76109, Melaka, Malaysia. ' Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM), Karung Berkunci No. 1752 Pejabat Pos Durian Tunggal 76109, Melaka, Malaysia. ' Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM), Karung Berkunci No. 1752 Pejabat Pos Durian Tunggal 76109, Melaka, Malaysia

Abstract: A model of the reactive sputtering process in deposition of TiAlN coating based on the influence of negatively substrate bias (-V_b) on coating composition and deposition rate at various nitrogen flow rate has been developed. TiAlN coatings were deposited by using DC magnetron sputtering. The coating composition and deposition rate were obtained by using SEM/EDX analysis. The results showed that the increase of -V_b decreased the critical nitrogen flow rate (f_N2^c). The increase of coating composition at nitrogen flow rate lower than f_N2^c with an increase in -V_b was due to increase of ion flux to the substrate while the decrease of deposition rate was due to coating densification. However, the verification data of coating composition was lower than that of model prediction due to the heterogeneous reaction between sputtered metallic particles and reactive gas at the substrate surface. The experimental results showed that the nitrogen content of unbiased substrate was consistently lower than that of biased substrate and increased with an increase in nitrogen flow rate while the deposition rate was decreased.

Keywords: coating composition; deposition rate; nitrogen flow rate; reactive sputtering; modelling; substrate bias; TiAlN coating; titanium; aluminium.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMATEI.2011.037881

International Journal of Materials Engineering Innovation, 2011 Vol.2 No.1, pp.71 - 95

Published online: 26 Mar 2015 *

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