Effects of Power Density and Post Annealing Process on the Microstructure and Wettability of TiO_2 Films Deposited by Mid-frequency Magnetron Reactive Sputtering

The relationship of ＂preparation parameters-microstructures-wettability＂ of TiO2 films was reported. In this work, TiO2 films were deposited onto glass and silicon substrates by using mid-frequency dual magnetron sputtering technique at ambient temperature with various power densities and deposition time. After deposition, the films were heat treated at different annealing temperatures. X-ray diffraction （XRD）, Raman spectroscopy, and field-emission scanning electron microscopy （FE-SEM） were utilized to characterize TiO2 films. The wettability of the films was evaluated by water contact angle measurement. The phase transition temperature of TiO2 films depended on the power density. It was demonstrated that wettability was strongly structure dependent and the film with the thickness of 610 nm （the power density was 2.22 W/cm^2） showed the lowest contact angle （8°）. It can be concluded that smaller crystallite size, the rutile phase with （110） face being parallel to the surface, and tensile stress favored the hydrophilicity of the TiO2 films.

Effects of Substrate Temperature on the Growth of Polycrystalline Si Films Deposited with SiH_4+Ar

Polycrystalline silicon （poly-Si） films were deposited using Ar diluted SiH4 gaseous mixture by electron cyclotron resonance plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition （ECR-PECVD）. The effects of the substrate temperature on deposition rate, crystallinity, grain size and the configuration of H existing in poly-Si film were investigated. The results show that, comparing with H2 dilution, Ar dilution could significantly decrease the concentration of H on the growing surface. When the substrate temperature increased, the deposition rate increased and the concentration of H decreased monotonously, but the crystallinity and the grain size of poly-Si films exhibited sophisticated trends. It is proposed that the crystallinity of the films is determined by a competing balance of the self-diffusion activity of Si atoms and the deposition rate. At substrate temperature of 200℃, the deposited film exhibits the maximum poly-Si volume fraction of 79%. Based on these results, higher substrate temperature is suggested to prepare the poly-Si films with advanced stability and compromised crystallinity at high deposition rate.

Effect of Sample Configuration on Droplet-Particles of TiN Films Deposited by Pulse Biased Arc Ion Plating

Orthogonal experiments are used to design the pulsed bias related parameters, including bias magnitude, duty cycle and pulse frequency, during arc ion deposition of TiN films on stainless steel substrates in the case of samples placing normal to the plasma flux. The effect of these parameters on the amount and the size distribution of droplet-particles are investigated, and the results have provided sufficient evidence for the physical model, in which particles reduction is due to the case that the particles are negatively charged and repulsed from negative pulse electric field. The effect of sample configuration on amount and size distribution of the particles are analyzed. The results of the amount and size distribution of the particles are compared to those in the case of samples placing parallel to the plasma flux.

TiAlN/Cu Nanocomposite Coatings Deposited by Filtered Cathodic Arc Ion Plating

TiAIN]Cu nanocomposite coatings with Cu concentration of 0-1.4 at.% were deposited on the high- speed steel （HSS） substrates by filtered cathodic arc ion plating technique. The chemical composition, microstructure, morphology, adhesion strength, mechanical and tribological properties of the TiAIN/Cu coatings were characterized and analyzed. The results reveal that the coating structure and properties depend on not only the Cu concentration, hut also the deposition condition. The addition of Cu significantly decreases the grain size and weakens the texture in the TiAlN/Cu coatings. With increasing the Cu concentration, the coating hardness decreases slightly from 30.7 GPa of the pure TiAlN coating to 28.5 GPa of the TiAlN/Cu coating with 1.4 at,% Cu. All the TiAlN/Cu coatings present sufficient adhesion strength. In addition, the existing state of additive Cu in the TiAlN/Cu coatings is also investigated.

Influence of an External Magnetic Field on the Growth of Nanocrystalline Silicon Films Grown by MF Magnetron Sputtering

The effects of an external magnetic field originating from two solenoid coils on the magnetic field configuration, plasma state of a dual unbalanced magnetron sputter system and the structure of nanocrystalline Si films were examined. Numerical simulations of the magnetic field configuration showed that increasing the coil current significantly changed the magnetic field distribution between the substrate and targets. The saturated ion current density Ji in the substrate position measured by using a circular flat probe increased from 0.18 to 0.55 mA/cm2 with the coil current ranging from 0 to 6 A. X-ray diffraction and Raman results revealed that increasing the ion density near the substrate would benefit crystallization of films and the preferential growth along [lI1] orientation. From analysis of the surface morphology and the microstructure of Si films grown under different plasma conditions, it is found that with increasing the Ji, the surface of the film was smoothed and the alteration in the surface roughness was mainly correlated to the localized surface diffusion of the deposited species and the crystallization behavior of the films.