Influence of ion energies on the structure, composition, and properties of multilayer Ti–Al–Si–N ion-plasma-deposited coatings

It is established that the energy of deposited particles influences the structure, composition, and properties of multilayer nitride coatings consisting of alternating layers of nanocrystalline TiN and amorphous Si$_{3}$N$_{4}$ phases with inclusions of nanocrystalline hexagonal AlN formed at energies of titanium, aluminum, and silicon ions exceeding $\sim$317 $\times$ 10$^{-19}$, 267 $\times$ 10$^{-19}$, and 230 $\times$ 10$^{-19}$ J, respectively. As the energy of titanium ions bombarding the substrate increases above $\sim$512 $\times$ 10$^{-19}$ J, the phase transition from disordered TiN$_{x}$ to Ti$_{3}$N$_{2}$ and the appearance of 2- to 3-nm-thick sublayers in 15-nm-thick nanocrystalline TiN$_{x}$ layers take place in the coating. The maximum hardness of such coatings reaches a level of $\sim$54 GPa.