Effect of the Ion-Plasma Process Parameters on the Texture and Properties of TiN and ZrN Coatings

X-ray diffraction analysis is used to study the formation of crystallographic texture in vacuum ion-plasma TiN and ZrN coatings as a function of the bias voltage at a substrate. At a low bias voltage (–10 V), textureless state is shown to form in the TiN and ZrN films; as the bias voltage increases to –100 V, a clear (111) texture is found in the TiN coatings, whereas, in the ZrN coatings, a two-component texture (111) + (113) forms. An increase in the bias voltage to –100 V leads to a twofold decrease in the hardness of the coatings. A selection criterion of texture component is suggested, which is based on the preferred orientations that ensure the minimum anisotropy of the Young modulus in the texture component plane.