Intrinsic stresses and stress relaxation in TiN/Ag multilayer coatings during thermal cycling

Morphology, structure and thermal behavior of magnetron sputtered TiN/Ag multilayer thin films deposited at 150 °C with a bilayer thickness Λ in the range of 75–600 nm are characterized. The films are thermally cycled and the relationship between bilayer thickness Λ, film structure and stress development is analyzed. The results indicate that the residual stresses in the as-deposited films and the behavior during heating are determined by the morphology and the mechanical properties of the Ag interlayers. The increasing crystallite size of Ag with increasing Λ and the initial porosity in the Ag layer are the reason for significant changes in the stress–temperature behavior. While coatings with Λ = 75 nm behave like a single-phase coating up to 380 °C, coatings with higher Λ show a different behavior when exceeding the deposition temperature, which is related to the densification of the Ag layers. During cooling, all coatings exhibit linear thermo-elastic behavior, where the slope of the stress–temperature curves also depends on Λ.