The (Ti,Cr)N thin films were deposited with various N2 flow rates on silicon wafers by reactive unbalanced magnetron co-sputtering without heating and biasing substrates. The effects of N2 flow rate on the structure and morphologies of the films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The results revealed that the (Ti,Cr)N thin films formed solid solutions with the fcc structure. The crystallite sizes calculated from Scherrer formula are about 13 nm. The root-mean-square roughness (Rrms) and the thickness (Tth) of the films were slightly decreased with the increase in N2 flow rate. The cross-sectional morphology showed columnar structure corresponding to zone 2. In addition, the N atomic concentration was also increased with the increase in N2 flow rate.
Relationship between structure, surface topography and tribo-mechanical behavior of Ti-N thin films elaborated at different N2 flow rates