NANOSTRUCTURED Ti-C THIN FILMS DEPOSITED BY THERMIONIC VACUUM ARC (TVA) TECHNOLOGY

Abstract

Nanostructured titanium-carbon nanostructured thin films were prepared using the Thermionic Vacuum Arc (TVA) technology in different configurations under a varied number of Ti/C combinations at high base pressure of 1 x 10-6Torr with and without graded compositions. The layers consisting of about lOOnm Carbon base layer and seven 40nm alternatively Ti and C layers were deposited on Silicon substrates. On the other hand, in order to obtain C-Ti multilayer structures with variable thickness and different percentages in C and Ti oflayers, a 20nm thick C layer was first deposed on Si substrate and then seven Ti-C layers, each ofthese having thickness of up to 40nm were deposed. To perform the successively layers with various thickness were changed the discharge parameters for C and Ti plasma sources to obtain the desirable thickness. By changing ofsubstrate temperature between room temperature and 300°C and on the other hand the bias voltage up to -700V, different batches of samples were obtained for this study. The films were characterized by surface morphology, and microstructure, through Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS), Raman Spectroscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Grazing Incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD). Tribological and electrical measurements are also presented.