Microstructure and mechanical properties of Ti–Si–N coatings

A series of Ti–Si–N coatings with 0 < Si < 20 at.% were synthesized by inductively coupled plasma assisted vapor deposition. Coating composition, structure, atomic short-range order, and mechanical response were characterized by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, transmission electron microscopy, x-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopy, and instrumented nanoindentation. These experiments show that the present series of Ti–Si–N coatings consists of a mixture of nanocrystalline titanium nitride (TiN) and amorphous silicon nitride (a-Si:N); i.e., they are TiN/a-Si:N ceramic/ceramic nanocomposites. The hardness of the present series of coatings was found to be less than 32 GPa and to vary smoothly with the Si composition.