Physicochemical and structural characteristics of TiC and VC thin films deposited by DC reactive magnetron sputtering

Vanadium carbide and titanium carbide films were deposited on Si substrates by direct current reactive magnetron sputtering, varying the substrate temperature during deposition and the reactive gas (CH4) pressure. The physicochemical and structural properties of the films were characterized for stoichiometric films (V/C = 1 and Ti/C = 1), which display good performance concerning wear, friction, and corrosion. The techniques used to characterize the films were Rutherford backscattering spectrometry in channeling geometry, 12C(α,α)12C nuclear resonant scattering, glancing angle X-ray diffraction, X-ray reflectometry, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results revealed that the ideal conditions for deposition of these films are a CH4 partial pressure of 0.5 × 10−3 mbar and a substrate temperature of 400 °C. In such conditions, the deposition rates are 7 nm s−1 for TiC and 8.5 nm s−1 for VC at a target power density of 5.5 W cm−2. The density of the films, as determined here by X-ray reflectometry, are slightly higher than those for the bulk materials.