As part of improving the tribological properties of TiN-based coatings, researchers have introduced additional elements to the binary TiN system. Addition of a self-lubricating and oxide-forming substitutional element such as Mo to the rock salt TiN system deposited by sputtering has been widely studied. But, the TiN-MoN solid solution system grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) is yet to be reported. Our current work is motivated by the need to understand and probe the structure of Ti_xMo_1−xN solid solutions with respect to the ALD growth process. In this work, thin films of Ti_xMo_1−xN (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) were deposited by plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) at 250 °C. Tetrakis(dimethylamido) titanium, bis(tert-butylimido)bis(dimethylamido) molybdenum, and N₂ plasma were used as sources for Ti, Mo, and N, respectively. X-ray diffraction revealed nanocrystalline films with a rock salt crystal structure for all compositions of Ti_xMo_1−xN except for MoN_x, which consisted of multiple phases with cubic MoN being the dominant phase. The elemental composition determined by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy deviated from the pulse ratio of TiN:MoN. This study revealed that nearly the whole solid solution of the TiN-MoN system can be accessed by PEALD.

中文翻译：

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氮化钛-氮化钼固溶体的等离子体增强原子层沉积

为了改善TiN基涂层的摩擦学性能，研究人员向二元TiN系统中引入了其他元素。已经广泛研究了将自润滑和形成氧化物的替代元素（例如Mo）添加到通过溅射沉积的岩盐TiN系统中。但是，通过原子层沉积（ALD）生长的TiN-MoN固溶体系统尚未见报道。我们当前的工作是出于需要了解和探究关于ALD生长过程的Ti _x Mo _1-x N固溶体的结构。在这项工作中，在250°C下通过等离子体增强原子层沉积（PEALD）沉积了Ti _x Mo _1-x N（0≤x≤1）薄膜。四（二甲基氨基）钛，双（叔）丁基丁基亚氨基）双（二甲基氨基）钼和N ₂等离子体分别用作Ti，Mo和N的来源。X射线衍射显示，除了MoN _x以外，Ti _x Mo _1-x N的所有成分均具有盐岩晶体结构的纳米晶体膜，其中MoN _x由多相组成，立方相MoN为主导相。通过X射线光电子能谱测定的元素组成偏离了TiN：MoN的脉冲比。这项研究表明，PEALD可以访问TiN-MoN系统几乎所有的固溶体。