NANOINDENTATION STUDY ON Ti THIN FILM DEPOSITED BY PVD ON DIFFERENT SINGLE CRYSTAL PLANES OF BCC, FCC AND HCP SUBSTRATES

Titanium thin film is one of the most frequently used metals in Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS) devices due to its superior strength, excellent thermal and chemical stability. Substrate materials, with different crystallographic directions, have different levels of the typical surface energy (γ) which influences the nano-structure, roughness, shape and adhesion of the deposited thin film. The measurement and control of the mechanical properties such as Young’s modulus, hardness and mechanical strength of the film, are important for more reliable and highly sensitive devices. The present systematic study was carried out to learn the influence of substrates having principal crystallographic planes of BCC, FCC and HCP substrate metals (Mo, Cu and Co respectively) on the mechanical and metallurgical characteristics of the titanium films

In this work, titanium thin films were deposited on a variety of substrates of different crystallographic structures, using both DC-sputtering and electron-beam systems, and under different conditions. The deposited films were characterized by XRD, HR-SEM, AFM and nanoindentation tests, to study the influence of the crystalline structure of the substrate on the mechanical properties of the titanium thin film.