Microstructure and hardness of hollow cathode discharge ion-plated titanium nitride film

Titanium nitride (TiN) films were deposited on 304 stainless steel substrate by hollow cathode discharge (HCD) ion-plating technique. The preferred orientation and microstructure were studied by x-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), respectively. Microhardness of the TiN film was measured and correlated to the microstructure and preferred orientation. The results of TEM study showed that the microstructure of TiN film contains grains with nanometer scale. As the film thickness increases, the grain size of TiN increases. The x-ray results show that TiN(111) is the major preferred orientation of the film. The hardness of TiN film is primarily contributed from TiN(111) preferred orientation.