The surface topography of titanium nitride made by chemical vapor deposition

Titanium nitride coating deposited by classical chemical vapor deposition on cemented carbide has been studied in terms of the fractal dimension and surface topography before and after metal ion implantation. The results have been analyzed by fast Fourier analysis whence it was found that the surface can be considered as fractal, and its dimension is not changed by the implantation process which may mean that concomitant sputter erosion is minimal. The intercept of the Fourier transform power spectrum log (Magnitude2) vs. log (Frequency) plot is linearly proportional to the Ra roughness (defined as the arithmetic average of the absolute values of all points in the profile scanned).