Titanium nitride films with a low added copper content were synthesized by
ion beam-assisted sputtering deposition. The role of copper was examined wi
th regard to the structure, hardness and elastic/plastic deformation capaci
ty of the composite Rims produced. It was found that copper had significant
modifying effects on the structure and property of titanium nitride films.
When a very low content of Cu (< 2 at.%) was added, the film showed appare
nt hardness enhancement. Films with low content of Cu also displayed highly
elastic characteristics (91% elastic recovery under nanoindentation). On t
he contrary, films with > 2 at. % copper were comparatively soft, up to 53%
of the deformation under indentation could be plastic in this case. In add
ition, copper additions could also be used to tune the grain size of TiN in
the range of 25-5 nm, at the same time causing a transition from a strong
(111) preferred orientation to random polycrystalline morphology. (C) 2001
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