Growth, Structure, and Mechanical Properties of Pulsed Laser Deposited TiN/TiB2 Microlaminates

Abstract

AbstractHard coatings of TiN and TiB2 have many interesting properties such as high thermal and electrical conductivity, high melting point, good thermodynamic stability and combination of these properties make them an interesting prospect for a wide range of tribological and electronic applications. It is understood that artificial multilayer structures have shown anamolously high hardness and modulii making them likely candidate for future protective coatings. Single layer of TiN, TiB2, and TiB2/TiN microlaminates coatings with varying thickness have been deposited on Si (100) and oxidized Si(111) substrates by in-situ pulsed laser deposition method. These films are deposited at 10 Hz repetition rate of excimer laser (λ = 248 nm). Our preliminary results show that elastic modulii and hardness values of multilayered coatings are superior than monolithic coatings of either of the two constituent materials. The coatings have been characterized by X-ray diffiractometer and AFM techniques. Detailed results have been presented to correlate the effect of microlaminate thickness on the mechanical properties.