TiO2 films obtained by cathodic arc deposition for biomaterials applications

LINA FRANCO ARIAS; MARIANA FAZIO; EMILIA HALAC; DANIEL VEGA; ARIEL KLEIMAN; ADRIANA MÁRQUEZ

Buenos Aires

Conferencia; 13th International Conference on Plasma Based Ion Implantation & Deposition (PBII&D 2015); 2015

Titanium dioxide is known to have outstanding attributes (non-toxicity, excellent chemical stability and good mechanical properties) which turn it a material suitable for a great variety of applications. It has been found that TiO2 coatings improve biocompatibility and hemocompatibility on prosthesis while, in addition, increase hardness and wear resistance. TiO2 in rutile phase can decrease the rate of dissolution of metal ions in a body fluid, and is chemically more stable than the anatase phase. Deposition of rutile films takes place at high temperatures, which is detrimental to many substrate materials. Therefore, biasing the substrate to increase ion energy is usually employed in PVD techniques for rutile growth. Also, the formation of this phase can be promoted by the substrate structure.In this work, TiO2 films were synthesized by cathodic arc deposition (CAD) on stainless steel substrates toward their future application on biocompatible surfaces. A Ti layer was introduced as an interface between the substrate and the TiO2. Samples were obtained at room temperature, 300 and 400 ºC, employing different bias voltages (0 ? 120 V). The crystalline structure of the films, studied by x-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy, was analyzed as a function of the temperature, the bias voltage and the thickness of the Ti interface. It was found that a thin (60 nm) underlayer of Ti promotes the growth of the rutile phase.