Structure of Ti Thin Films Deposited With a Vacuum Arc as a Function of the Thickness

M. FAZIO; D. VEGA; A. KLEIMAN; D. COLOMBO; L. FRANCO ARIAS; A. MARQUEZ

Buenos Aires

Conferencia; Plasma Based Ion Implantation and Deposition 2015; 2015

Polycrystalline titanium thin films have been widely employed as interlayer between the substrate and different coatings to promote the growth of crystalline phases and to improve adhesion strength, corrosion resistance and wear performance. However, very few studies have been carried out on the influence of the thickness of the Ti films on its characteristics.In this work, the crystal structure of Ti films deposited on silicon (100) with a vacuum arc was studied and a dependence on the film thickness was found. The presence of the fcc phase of Ti was observed up to a critical thickness of 300 nm, a much larger value than reported for other deposition processes. For larger thicknesses, the films exhibited the usual α phase with a preferred orientation in the [100] direction. These results agree with a growth model based on the matching between the film and the silicon substrate lattice. Recently, evidence of the fcc phase was also found on Ti thin films grown on polycrystalline substrates of 316L stainless steel.