Effects of nitrogen ion implantation and implantation energy on surface properties and adhesion strength of TiN films deposited on aluminum by magnetron sputtering

The performance of tribological coatings depends greatly on the adhesion strength between the coatings and substrates. In this work, we investigated the influence of the ion implantation energy of nitrogen on the adhesion and surface properties of TiN deposited on aluminum substrate. Aluminum samples were implanted with 15 keV, 30 keV and 40 keV nitrogen ions before TiN films were deposited using magnetron sputtering in a custom-designed multi-functional ion implanter. The adhesion properties of the implanted TiN films were assessed using nano-scratch tests and were observed to vary with the nitrogen ion implantation energy. Our frictional test results show that an appropriate ion implantation energy and dose can improve the frictional behavior of TiN films deposited on aluminum.