Changing of Defect’s Structure and Properties of Superhard Nanostructured Ti-Si-N Coatings, Fabricated Using CPVD, before and after Annealing

Using such unique methods of analysis as slow positron beam (SPB), RBS, μ-PIXE (proton microbeam), XRD, SEM with EDS, XPS, nanohardness and elastic modulus measurements, we studied superhard nanostructure Ti-Si-N coatings, which were deposited using Cathodic-PVD method, before and after annealing at the temperature of 600°C for 30 minutes. It is shown in the paper that redistribution of N and Si occurs on the borders of nanograins after annealing, amorphous phase α-SiNx (Si3N4) is created, defects segregates on interfaces and forms vacancy-type clusters with rather high concentration from 5 × 1016 cm-3 to 7.5 × 1017 cm-3 due to thermodiffusion. Solid solution (Ti,Si)N and small concentration of α-SiN (close to XRD detection limits) are formed in the coating. Also it was obtained, that deflected mode is formed in the coating (compressive deformation equals to –2.6%), but after thermal annealing deformation reduces to a value of -2.3%. Size of nanograins of solid solution (Ti, Si)N increases from 12.5 nm to (13.2 ÷ 13.4) nm. 25 nm size grains increase their size to 28.5 nm after annealing (under another deposition regime).