Improvising CODAS method functionalized with grey numbers to improve the performance of PVD titanium carbon nitride (TiCN) thin film coating: a novel approach

Abstract

This experimental study focuses on the deposition of TiCN thin film coating onto a bare p-type silicon substrate using physical vapor deposition (PVD) processes, with varying process parameters. The study employed a design of experiment in accordance with the L 16 orthogonal Array, followed by the implementation of the combinative distance-based assessment (CODAS) method functionalized with grey numbers to enhance the performance of the PVD process for the very first time in the film of thin film deposition. The study also conducted various analyses to examine the coating’s properties, including morphological, structural, microstructural, electrochemical, and mechanical properties. According to the result, the morphology of the coating was wavy in nature, with a smooth microstructure and a few agglomerated particles. The structure of the film indicated that TiCN had a single-phase FCC structure, while the mechanical and electrochemical properties improved with higher N2 flow rates. Additionally, the analysis by CODAS method functionalized with grey numbers suggested that substrate to target distance = 50 mm, N2 flow rate = 25 sccm, and bias voltage = −120 V were the most suitable condition for obtaining the best quality of TiCN thin film coating.

Effect of deposition temperature on the tribo-mechanical properties of nitrogen doped DLC thin film

“…Overall, it is noticed that the pattern of the surface is even, and the deposited film is equally developed throughout the surface. The film deposited at higher deposition temperature (particularly at 950 and 1,000 °C) seems to be rougher as compared to other samples and similar results were also observed from AFM (Das et al, 2023a). It is also observed that at high temperature some agglomerated particles are form over the substrate.…”

“…However further increase in temperature tends to increase the roughness of the film and the film deposited at 1,000 °C becomes rougher as compared to all the samples. The increase in roughness may be due to the increase of randomness of gas particles within the chamber at high temperature (Das et al, 2023a). The film thickness of the coating increased from 1.9 to 2.8 µm with increase of deposition temperature (Mwema et al, 2018).…”