Laser processing of carbide and nitride coatings for multifunctional applications

In this research thin film coatings of titanium carbide, silicon carbide, boron carbide, aluminum nitride, silicon nitride, boron nitride, composite carbon nitride, and microlaminates of titanium carbide/titanium nitride were deposited on Si (100) substrates using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method. Films deposited at higher temperature on Si (100) substrates show that the hardness and Young's modulus values of aluminum nitride (AlN), titanium carbide (TiC), and silicon nitride (Si{dollar}rmsb3Nsb4){dollar} are higher than the films deposited at lower temperatures. Boron carbide (B{dollar}sb4{dollar}C) films with higher thickness have higher hardness and Young's modulus. Silicon carbide (SiC) film deposited at 730{dollar}spcirc{dollar}C on Si (100) substrate has an extremely high hardness up to 51 GPa. Boron nitride (BN) films deposited on Si (100) substrates have the higher percentage of h-BN phases in higher nitrogen partial pressure. All the carbide and nitride films deposited at higher temperatures on Si (100) substrates have better crystallinity. It has been demonstrated in this research that using titanium carbide as an under layer increases the hardness and Young's modulus values of carbon nitride composite coatings. Microlaminates of titanium nitride/titanium carbide have shown higher hardness and Young's modulus when deposited layers are increased.