X-RAY-DIFFRACTOMETRY ANALYSIS OF RF-SPUTTERED HARD COATINGS BASED ON NITRIDES OF TI, CR, HF

Hard coatings for wear protection based on Ti, Cr and Hf and their nit rides were deposited by means of a commercial magnetron sputterung uni t with r.f. bias and compared in their physical and mechanical propert ies. All films were reactively sputtered with nitrogen atmosphere from a target of the pure metal. In the present paper the most important r esults of the X-ray diffraction (XRD) for studying the influence of th e deposition parameters nitrogen flow, bias voltage and deposition pre ssure are shown for optimizing the coating properties and the depositi on process. The investigations also show that with XRD as an important analytical tool differences can be observed in the microstructure of thin films, which help to understand their technological properties su ch as adhesion and wear behaviour.