MECHANICAL AND MICROSTRUCTURAL CHANGES OF MAGNETRON-SPUTTERED TIN FILMS WITH VARIOUS MAGNETIC-FIELD CONFIGURATIONS

TiN coatings were deposited in a single magnetron sputter ion plating system in ''balanced'' and unbalanced mode with a closed magnetic fiel d configuration. The film microhardness, thickness, adhesion, microstr ucture, preferred orientation and topography were analyzed as a functi on of the substrate position inside the deposition volume. In the stat ic deposition mode and under the limitations of the experimental set-u p used, no real homogeneous deposition conditions were achieved, but a significant possibility of controlling the spatial distribution of de position conditions was demonstrated. The variation of the coating mic rohardness over the target-to-substrate distance, d(S-T), ranging from about 80 to 210 mm was acceptable for practical applications, while t he critical load for adhesive failure was found to decrease significan tly with increasing d(S-T) in a balanced magnetron configuration. The variation of magnetic field configuration provided a relatively homoge neous distribution of the bias current density over the deposition vol ume, but the preferred orientation of the coating was changed from (20 0) to (111) with increasing d(S-T). The energy delivered per unit volu me of growing film, S-E, and bombarding ion to deposited metal atom fl ux ratio j(i)/j(m) were considered. It was found that j(i)/j(m) can be used to describe qualitatively the change of preferred crystalline or ientation of coatings. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A.