A magnetized sheet plasma source for the synthesis of TiN on stainless steel substrates

A sheet plasma of several millimeters thickness and having dimensions 13 x 20 cm 2 was used for wide area plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition of titanium nitride (TiN). A titanium disk placed at the anode of the source was sputtered by argon plasma produced at plasma current between 1.0 A to 4.5 A and a discharge potential between 85 V and 240 V Reactive nitrogen gas is fed to the system in a N-2/Ar ratio of 1:4 and 1:2.5 in a total gas filling pressure of 35 mTorr. Synthesis was first done on stainless steel metal substrates, which allowed easier characterization of the samples. The synthesized films exhibit the stoichiometric TiN (200), TiN (220), TiN (311) and the nonstoichiometric Ti2N (220) phases. The deposition rate is estimated at 0.166 mu m/min. Under the best conditions of deposition on stainless steel substrates, actual industrial drill bits, punchers and taps were immersed in the mixed species plasma for TiN coating on tools. The process did not require heating of the sample to be coated. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.