The uniformity of TiN films deposited on the inner surfaces of a hemispherical workpiece by high-power pulsed magnetron sputtering

Abstract

TiN films deposited by magnetron sputtering are widely used to improve the surface properties of components and prolong their service life. However, for complex shaped workpieces, such as hoods, the shadow effect will cause the nonuniformity of thickness, structure and performance of the as-deposited films and thus reduce their service life. High-power pulsed magnetron sputtering (HPPMS) is characterized by high ionization rate of target atoms, which makes it easy to control the energy and direction of deposited particles, and then to prepare highly uniform and compact films. In this paper, TiN films were deposited on the inner surfaces of a hemispherical workpiece by HPPMS at different working pressure. The film thickness, crystallographic structure, microhardness and morphology of the films were investigated by surface profilometer, XRD, SEM and microhardness tester. The results show that the thickness uniformity of TiN film on the inner surface of the hemispherical workpiece decreases, and the uniformity of structure and hardness increase with the increase of working pressure.