Application of TiAl laminate to a sputtering target for TiAlN films

The present authors attempted to apply a TiAl laminate to a sputtering target for the formation of TiAlN films. The structure and the properties of the films formed using this target were investigated and compared with those of films formed using a sintered target and a compound target. The films formed using the laminate target were found to include less oxygen than the films formed using the sintered and compound targets. This is probably due to the lower oxygen concentration in the laminate target than in the other two targets. No substantial difference in the hardness of the film was observed between the laminate target and the other two targets. The laminate target was equally as effective as either the sintered or the compound target.