Effects of nitrogen partial pressure on titanium oxynitride films deposited by reactive RF magnetron sputtering onto PET substrates

✍ Scribed by M.C. Lin; L.-S. Chang; H.C. Lin

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 818 KB
• Volume: 202
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0257-8972
• DOI: 10.1016/j.surfcoat.2008.06.066

✦ Synopsis

Titanium oxynitride (TiN x O y ) films have been deposited onto polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates by reactive radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering. The influence of the nitrogen (N 2 ) partial pressure in the discharge atmosphere, with a set pressure of 0.133 Pa, was examined. Other deposition conditions were held constant. The deposition rate of the films, which exhibit an island-type morphology, was found to decrease with increasing N 2 partial pressure. This concurred with an increase in the surface roughness at higher N 2 partial pressure. The TiN x O y films deposited at N 2 partial pressures from 0.26 × 10 -1 Pa to 0.8 × 10 -1 Pa possess Ti:N:O ratio of about 1:0.9:0.8 to 1:1.2:0.7. At the lowest N 2 partial pressure of 0.26 × 10 -1 Pa, the water vapor (WV) and oxygen transmission rates (OTR) of the TiN x O y films reached values as low as 0.31 g/m 2 -day-atm and 0.62 cc/m 2 -day-atm, respectively; these values are about 16 and 50 times lower than those of the uncoated PET substrate.