Deposition of TiN films on the inner wall of a pipe by DC vacuum cathodic arc deposition and PBII

TiN films were deposited on the inner wall of a pipe of 80 mm in inner diameter and 150 mm long by DC vacuum cathodic arc deposition and PBII. A metal rod connected to ground was inserted in the center of the pipe. One of the open ends was set towards to the titanium plasma source. In order to examine the characteristics of the prepared film, silicon substrates were pasted on the inner wall of the pipe. It was found that the thickness of the film deposited on the inner wall of the pipe decreased with increasing the distance from the cathodic arc source, and that the deposition rate had a certain relationship with the plasma density. The application of the high pulse voltage to the pipe strongly affected the film structure and hardness. With increasing the high pulse voltage, the deposition rate slightly increased at the same position, and the distribution of the film thickness tended to be uniform in the axial direction. In the meantime, the microhardness of the film changed in a more complicated way. It was affected by the plasma density and by the ratio of titanium to nitrogen ions. On the whole, the deposition rate at the position of the pipe far from the metal plasma source was relatively low, and the hardness of film at the position of the pipe far from its open end showed relatively low. The grounded rod at the center of the pipe did not strongly affect the film thickness and the hardness, making the PBII process more stable. The XRD analysis of the film showed that there was no difference in crystalline structure between the films deposited with and without inserting the central road.