Design of carbide-based nanocomposite thin films by selective alloying
2010; Elsevier BV; Volume: 206; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1016/j.surfcoat.2010.06.017
ISSN1879-3347
AutoresUlf Jansson, Erik Lewin, Mikael Råsander, Olle Eriksson, Benny André, Urban Wiklund,
Tópico(s)Copper Interconnects and Reliability
ResumoThis paper reviews a series of studies on alloying of sputtered TiC coatings with weak carbide-forming metals, Me, such as Al, Fe, Ni, Pt and Cu. Metastable solid solutions with Me on the Ti sites are easily obtained by magnetron sputtering at low temperatures (< 300 °C). First principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations of such carbides show that a driving force exists to remove carbon from the structure as an alternative and kinetically more favourable route compared to Me precipitation. This leads to a situation where additional control of the phase composition is given by annealing: both direct influence during film growth, as well as through subsequent annealing. Thus, alloying of the nanocomposite with weak carbide-forming metals can be used to tune many mechanical, electric and magnetic properties of a carbide-based nanocomposite film.
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