X-RAY-DIFFRACTOMETRY ANALYSIS OF RF-SPUTTERED HARD COATINGS BASED ON NITRIDES OF TI, CR, HF

Hard coatings for wear protection based on Ti, Cr and Hf and their nitrides were deposited by means of a commercial magnetron sputterung unit with r.f. bias and compared in their physical and mechanical properties. All films were reactively sputtered with nitrogen atmosphere from a target of the pure metal. In the present paper the most important results of the X-ray diffraction (XRD) for studying the influence of the deposition parameters nitrogen flow, bias voltage and deposition pressure are shown for optimizing the coating properties and the deposition process. The investigations also show that with XRD as an important analytical tool differences can be observed in the microstructure of thin films, which help to understand their technological properties such as adhesion and wear behaviour.