TITANIUM IMPLANTATION INTO BORON-NITRIDE FILMS AND ION-BEAM MIXING OFTITANIUM-BORON NITRIDE MULTILAYERS

Ti-B-N films of various composition and crystalline structure have bee n synthesized by titanium ion implantation into sub-stoichiometric and stoichiometric hexagonal boron nitride films. Due to the relatively l ow penetration depth of Ti+ ions these films can only be prepared with limited thickness, of the order of several hundred nanometers. Ti-B-N films were also prepared by ion-beam mixing of multilayer coatings of the sequence Ti/BN by argon ion bombardment. With these methods, inho mogeneous coatings with respect to their composition, in particular at low fluences, were obtained. All films were investigated by glancing angle X-ray diffraction. SEM, SNMS and ESCA/Auger analysis were also p erformed on some of the samples. Hardness and Young's modulus were det ermined by an ultra-low load, depth-sensing nanoindenter. Most of the results can be understood by examination of the chemical composition a nd crystalline structure of the films.