Reference materials for composition-depth profiles of TiN, Ti(C,N) and (Ti,Al)N with different chemical composition

Titanium nitride TiNx, titanium carbonitride Ti[C-x,N-y] and titanium aluminium nitride [Ti-x,Al-y]N coatings - each with four different chemical compositions - were deposited by d.c. magnetron sputtering on a low carbon steel. In a first step the coatings of one part of the layers were analysed with a wet chemical method. The other samples were studied by Auger electron spectroscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, glow discharge optical spectroscopy, secondary ion mass spectrometry, secondary neutral mass spectrometry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy in a round robin experiment. The results of the spectroscopic analyses showed significant deviations as compared with the wet chemical analyses, especially for substoichiometric composition. Possible reasons for this behaviour are discussed. It can be concluded that the now well-examined samples can be used as reference materials for all spectroscopic methods. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A.