Thermal relaxation of residual stresses in TiN films deposited by arc ion plating

Abstract

Abstract The present study investigates crystal orientations and residual stresses in TiN films deposited by arc ion plating. TiN films approximately 2.0 μm thick were deposited on a steel substrate. With a bias voltage of 0 V, the TiN film exhibited strong {110} texture, whereas the dominant orientation of the film deposited at −100V was {111}. TiN films had very high compressive residual stresses: −8.6 GPa in the {110} textured film and −10.0 GPa in the {111} textured film. These residual stresses decreased with increasing annealing temperature and the reduction rate was greater for the {111} than for the {100} film. The behavior of residual stresses in the {111} and {110} textured layers of {111}/{110} textured double-layer film was identical to that for single-layer films.