Deposition and characterization of titanium carbide coatings using laser ablation method

Carbide coatings have a large number of applications in modern technology owing to their interesting, and in some ways unique, physical and chemical properties. Thin film coatings of titanium carbide were deposited on Si 100.substrates using pulsed laser deposition PLD.method. The structural and microstructural properties of these films have been characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopy techniques. The mechanical properties of the films were evaluated to measure the hardness and modulus values. It has been shown that the films deposited at higher temperature have the best crystalline quality structure and also have higher hardness and modulus values compared to the film deposited at lower temperature. Optimization of laser deposition parameters to obtain high quality thin films will be discussed in detail. q1998 Elsevier Science B.V.