Deposition of Ti-AI-N Films by Using a Cathodic Vacuum Arc with Pulsed Bias

Ti-Al-N hard films have been prepared by cathodic arc deposition by using an unipolar pulsed bias.In the present study,Ti-Al-N films were deposited on stainless steel and silicon wafers.The deposition rate,micrograph,preferred orientation and composition were systematically investigated by usingx-ray diffraction（XRD）,energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy（EDX）, and a scanning electron microscope（SEM）.It is shown that substate bias duty cycle and frequency have a great effect on film structure.A simple explanation for the results is also presented.