Obtaining TiN Coatings by Reactive Anodic Evaporation of Titanium in a Gas Discharge with a Self-Heated Hollow Cathode

We propose a method for obtaining TiN coatings by reactive anodic evaporation of titanium using a high-current (30 A) discharge with a self-heated hollow cathode in an Ar + N 2 gas mixture. The optical spectral analysis shows that the gas-discharge plasma contains a large amount of activated titanium, while the fraction of singly charged metal ions supplied from the plasma to substrate reaches up to 70%. Titanium coatings with 2-μm thickness and up to 24-GPa hardness were obtained at a nitrogen flow rate of 5 cm 3 /min. The rate of TiN deposition at a distance of 7 cm from the vapor source amounted to ~4 μm/h.