NUMERICAL DESCRIPTION OF TEXTURE EVOLUTION IN A GROWING FILM, STARTING FROM RANDOM ORIENTATIONS

In physically vapour deposited TiN coatings a continuous evolution of the texture can be observed during deposition. The texture evolves fro m random near the substrate to a definite texture ((111) orientation) near the outer surface. This evolution seems to be typical for a numbe r of coatings. This texture evolution was modelled, using the tendency for the smallest possible surface energy as the driving force. The ex perimental trends observed in a number of experiments could be reprodu ced or explained, e.g. the evolution towards larger column diameters f or thicker films, the sharpening of the angular distribution of the co lumns, and the dependence of the texture on deposition parameters.