Ti-Si-N films with a high content of Si

The article reports on mechanical properties and oxidation of amorphous Ti-Si-N films with a high (>20 at.-%) content of Si reactively sputtered using a closed magnetic field dual magnetron sputtering system operating in AC pulse mode. The films were sputtered from compound targets on Si(100), 15 330 steel and Al₂O₃ substrates. It was found that (1) the Ti-Si-N films with a high (≥50 at.-%) content of N are X-ray amorphous and exhibit (i) relatively high hardness H ranging from ∼20 to 27 GPa and (ii) high oxidation temperature achieving ∼1480 °C for the a-Ti-Si-N film on the Al₂O₃ (sapphire) substrate, and (2) Young's modulus of the films is strongly affected by mechanical properties of the substrate.