Nanocrystalline titanium carbide thin films deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering

We investigated the structure and composition of titanium carbide thin films deposited by the reactive magnetron sputter ion plating process as a function of deposition parameters. The films were sputtered onto unheated glass substrates by means of an unbalanced planar d.c. magnetron equipped with a titanium target using a mixture of argon and methane. The deposition parameters ranged from 0.05 Pa to 2 Pa for total working gas pressure p(T), from 10% to 60% (volume) for relative methane concentration in the working gas mixture, from 45 mm to 85 mm for the substrate-to-target distance d(s-t) and from -50V to -800V for the substrate bias Us. It was found that the crystallinity of the thin films strongly decreases with increasing p(T), d(s-t) and U-S. The experiments described show the conditions necessary to obtain sputter-deposited nanocrystalline titanium carbide films.