Effects of substrate positioning for TiAlN films deposited by an inverted cylindrical magnetron sputtering system

TiAlN films up to 500 nm thick were deposited on glass substrates at three different positions inside an unbalanced inverted cylindrical magnetron sputtering system. The system used two 75 mm tall cylindrical targets (one titanium and one aluminum) separated by about 80 mm. One substrate was located near the titanium target, another near the aluminum target, and a third centered between the targets. In addition, at each location substrates were oriented at three different angles (0, 45, and 60°, measured relative to a horizontal platform). The sputtering power during deposition was maintained at 2 kW with constant argon and nitrogen gas flow rates. The films' elemental compositions at the different locations and orientations were analyzed using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The X-ray diffraction results showed the presence of a (200) NaCl crystal structure in some of the deposited films; however, the peak intensity varied with the substrate orientation indicating a competition between atom surface diffusion and amorphization. Scanning electron microscope images indicated a grained morphology for all samples.