Nanostructured Vacuum ARC Deposited Titanium Coatings

Ti coatings on silicate glass substrates have been produced using a nonfiltered vacuum arc deposition technique. The dependence of the deposition rate on the distance from the cathode both in lateral and transversal directions was investigated. The average roughness, Ra , decreases with the distance, showing a transition area between the microparticle-containing and microparticle-free Ti films. Ra depends strongly on the number of microparticles. A linear dependence of Ra on the discharge current was obtained only for substrates far enough from the cathode. For substrates close to the cathode the dependence is governed by the microparticle density. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) reveals dense structure with nanograins.