Effect of Microstructural and Tribological Behaviors of Sputtered Titanium Carbide Thin Film on Copper Substrate

Abstract

Titanium carbide (TiC) thin films were deposited by radio frequency magnetron sputtering (RFMS) onto a copper substrate by using Argon (Ar) gas plasma at a gas flow rate of 10.0 sccm. The effect of time and temperature at a constant RF power on the structural and tribological properties were respectively investigated by atomic force spectroscopy (AFM), X–ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and tribological measurements. All films were tested to have crystal structures with the preferential plane (111) and dominant plane (200) grain orientations. Thus, plane (111) has phase identification of Cu(Cu16Ti)0.23 for some samples, whereas plane (200) has a phase identification of Cu(Cu0.997Ti0.003) and Cu(Cu0.923Ti0.077) for other samples. The lowest thin film roughness of 19.797 nm was observed in the sample, with RF power, sputtering time, and a temperature of 200 W, for two hours and 80 °C, respectively. The FTIR spectra of TiC films formed under different sputtering times (2–3 h) and temperatures (80 °C–100 °C) on Cu substrates at a constant sputtering power of 200 W in the range of 5000–500 cm−1. The peaks at 540 cm−1, 780 cm−1, and 1250 cm−1 are presented in the FTIR spectra and the formation of a Ti–C bond was observed. On the other hand, a sample was revealed to have the lowest wear volume of 5.1 × 10−3 mm3 while another sample was obtained with the highest wear volume of 9.3 × 10−3 mm3.

Synthesis and Electrocatalytic Performance of TiO2 Supported on Carbon Nanoparticles Towards Positive Half-Cell Reaction of Hydrogen-1,4p-benzoquinone Flow-Battery

“…The peaks at 1731 cm −1 and 1452 cm −1 are attributed to the bending vibrations Ti-OH band and TiO 2 bond vibrations respectively. 23 The bonds at 517 cm −1 and 668 cm −1 are associated with Ti-C 24 and O-Ti-O 25 stretching respectively and indicate the interaction between TiO 2 particles and carbon particles. The above peaks indicate the presence of TiO 2 in the TiO 2 @CNP electrocatalyst and were absent in the spectra of CNP.…”

Electrochemical Performance of Biocompatible TiC Films Deposited through Nonreactive RF Magnetron Sputtering for Neural Interfacing

“…This approach offers a simple, facile, reproducible, and controlled method. While TiC thin films have been deposited through sputtering in different research endeavors, they have mostly been proposed and optimized as a coating for wear resistance, ,, occasionally as supercapacitor materials, , and yet, to the best of our knowledge, their potential use as a neural electrode interface material has not been reported.…”