Polycrystalline, smooth, and hard thin films of TiN are successfully
deposited on AISI-304 substrates using a 1.5 kJ Mather-type dense plasma
focus device charged at 18 kV. The purpose of this study is to investigate
the structural and mechanical properties of the TiN thin films in terms of
ion dose and substrate position to establish the optimum deposition
conditions. The films are analyzed using XRD, SEM, electron microprobe and
micro-hardness testing. XRD confirms the deposition of a polycrystalline TiN
thin film together with the emergence of an iron chromium nickel phase. The
surface hardness-in comparison to the unexposed substrate-is found to
increase up to 250% when a film is deposited using 30 focus shots at an
axial distance of 6 cm. SEM micrographs show that the quality of the film is
improved with an increasing number of focus shots. The constituent elements
of the film are also confirmed by electron microprobe.