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Ti–B–N coatings were prepared by inductively coupled plasma assisted DC magnetron sputtering using a TiB2 target and a gas mixture of N2 and Ar at 200 °C and a pressure of 60 mTorr. In addition to ICP, the effect of the substrate bias voltage on the structure and properties of the coating was investigated. By applying ICP the hardness of the TiB2 coating was increased by more than 60 GPa, as a result of enhanced ionization in the plasma. By adding N2 into the TiB2 coating, the hardness decreased as reported previously. However, the hardness could be increased up to 76 GPa by applying ICP and a bias voltage to the substrate. The Ti–B–N coating, which had the highest hardness, showed the best surface uniformity and a very dense structure with a grain size of 3 nm. This sample also showed a high crystallinity compared to the coating prepared using other deposition parameters. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

(Ti,Cr)N coatings were deposited by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) assisted magnetron sputtering and the properties of the coatings were investigated. The (Ti,Cr)N coatings deposited by ICP assisted sputtering showed a much higher micro-hardness (>5000 HK0.01) compared to coatings produced by the conventional DC magnetron sputtering method. The ICP deposited (Ti,Cr)N coatings also showed superior properties in adhesion and wear compared to the DC sputtered (Ti,Cr)N coatings. The superior mechanical properties of ICP deposited (Ti,Cr)N coatings were attributed to the fine and dense micro-structure and high compressive residual stress. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Titanium nitride (TiNx) was deposited on a plastic Acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene substrate by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) sputtering. Many PVD coating processes, currently used in industry, are quite inefficient as there is a need for an extensive cooling time. However, the ICP technique is a high-density plasma technique, which allows deposition on substrates like plastics at low temperatures. Through the plasma diagnosis, the plasma density of the ICP sputtering system was superior to that of the other commercial PVD processes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]