Titanium(IV) isopropoxide as a source of titanium and oxygen atoms in carbon based coatings deposited by Radio Frequency Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition method

• Published in: Thin solid films 2020-01, Vol.693, p.137697, Article 137697
• Main Authors: Jedrzejczak, Anna, Batory, Damian, Prowizor, Milena, Dominik, Magdalena, Smietana, Mateusz, Cichomski, Michal, Kisielewska, Aneta, Szymanski, Witold, Kozlowski, Witold, Dudek, Mariusz
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Carbon coatings; Mechanical properties; Optical properties; Raman spectroscopy; Titanium
• ISSN: 0040-6090
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tsf.2019.137697

•Carbon base coating deposited using combination of CH4 and Ti[OCH(CH3)2]4 atmospheres.•Formation of sp2 hybridized carbon matrix enriched with titanium oxide.•Tensile stress for the coatings deposited at relatively high Ti[OCH(CH3)2]4 partial pressure.•Refractive index of carbon base coatings achieves the value of 2.1 at 640 nm. This paper presents properties of TiOx-DLC (titanium oxides incorporated diamond like carbon) coatings deposited by RF PECVD (Radio Frequency Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition) method using combination of methane (CH4) and titanium(IV) isopropoxide (Ti[OCH(CH3)2]4) atmospheres. The obtained results show that the deposition process of TiOx-DLC coatings is strongly affected by the concentration of TTIP (titanium (IV) isopropoxide) precursor in working atmosphere. The proposed technology allows to obtain TiOx-DLC coatings with Ti concentration up to 10 at.%. Higher concentrations of Ti in the coating (5 and 10 at.%) result in twice the concentration of oxygen. As the results of the investigation it was noticed, stable TiOx-DLC coatings showing acceptable hardness and residual stress, as well as good optical properties contain up to 1.5 at.% of Ti and can be deposited at 400 V of the negative self-bias using 0.05 of TTIP partial pressure ratio.