Mechanical behavior of TiN/CrN nano-multilayer thin film deposited by unbalanced magnetron sputter process

Abstract: TiN and CrN single layer thin films along with TiN/CrN multilayer thin film, which has an average layer thickness of 4nm were deposited on WC substrates by a commercially used unbalanced DC magnetron sputtering. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the as-deposited films were investigated. The TiN/CrN multilayer thin film has a single phase structure with the preferential orientation of (200), a finer surface morphology and a finer columnar crystal structure. Additionally, the TiN/CrN multilayer thin film also shows better adhesion on substrate and hardness than the single layer thin films. The hardness of the annealed multilayer thin film is slightly increased after annealed at temperatures of 600–800°C. This is attributed to the increased intensity of (111) reflection during annealing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]