Effects of hot isostatic pressure on titanium nitride films deposited by physical vapor deposition

Films of titanium nitride deposited by physical vapor deposition on 304 L stainless steel substrates were hot isostatic pressed (HIP) under 150 MPa at 550 °C. To study the effects of this treatment on the microstructure of those films, X-ray diffraction analyses, Rutherford Backscattering spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy were performed. Surface hardness, and roughness were also evaluated to characterize the TiN properties. The hot isostatic pressure leads to an increase of hardness for depths up to 0.1 mum and a crystallographic texture change from (111) to (200). The original TiN golden color turned to red after the treatment. An increase of the grain size has been observed for hot isostatic pressed samples, but the stoichiometry of the TiN film was determined to be 1:1 by RBS. The microstructure observed by atomic force microscopy indicated that the TiN film surface is smoother after the HIP treatment.