Investigation on the formation of titanium nitride thin films on 304 type stainless steel using plasma focus device

A 2.2-kJ Mather type plasma focus device charged at 18 kV was used to deposit titanium nitride on 304 type stainlesssteel substrates. The plasma focus device is fitted with solid titanium anode and operated with nitrogen as the fillinggas. The process of deposition was done at room temperature, and samples were deposited at a constant distanceand at different angles with respect to the anode axis. X-ray diffractometry (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM),scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) were employed to characterizecrystalline structure, morphology, nanostructure, distribution, and elemental composition of deposited films,respectively. As the ion flux and energy of the ions change with angular position from the head of the anode(titanium), it is observed that these changes directly affect both surface morphology and the nanostructure of thefilms. XRD patterns show the growth of polycrystalline titanium nitride thin films of different phases. AFM and SEMimages show that the grain size is affected by the energy of ions that reached the surface. Grain size, averageroughness, and root mean square decreased by increasing the angle with respect to the anode axis. EDX mappingverifies the elemental distributions of titanium nitride on the surface. In this work we have shown the possibility ofproduction of titanium nitride thin films of different phases, using a Mather type plasma focus system.

Keywords:

Plasma focus device , XRD , AFM , SEM , Titanium nitride