CHARACTERIZATION OF SURFACE PROPERTIES AND MICROSTRUCTURE OF PVD-TiN FILMS USING MEVVA ION IMPLANTATION

The PVD-TiN film was implanted with titanium ions and the improvement in surface wear resistance was investigated. Ti ion implantation was done using a metal vapor vacuum arc (MEVVA) ion source with an implantation dose of 2 × 1016 ions/cm2 and at an extraction voltage of 48 kV. The wear characteristics of the implanted zone was measured and compared to the performance of the unimplanted zone by a pin-on-disc apparatus and an optical interference microscope. The structure of the implanted zone and unimplanted one was observed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). A dynamic TRIM called TRIDYN was used to calculate the concentration depth profile of implanted Ti in TiN to investigate the profile of multi-charge state ions. The results showed that the improved wear resistance of the TiN film was mainly due to the presence of nano-order TiN crystal grains after Ti ion implantation.