Effect of gas Pressure on the Mechanical Properties of Sputtered TaN Films

Tantalum nitride as a promising material for applications has attracted considerable interest due to such promising properties as superhardness and high temperature stability. In this paper, the TaN films were deposited on the single crystal superalloy by radio frequency (RF) reactive magnetron sputtering in an argon-nitrogen atmosphere. The effect of gas pressure on the mechanical property, morphology, phase structure, residual stress, tribological property of the films is investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray stress measurement and SRV friction and wear test, respectively. The results show that the partial pressure of N2 has a great influence on the phase structure, residual stress and nano-hardness.