ANALYSIS OF MORPHOLOGY AND COMPOSITION OF COATINGS BASED ON TITANIUM NITRIDE FORMED BY CONDENSATION METHOD WITH ION BOMBARDING
The main objective of this paper was to study the morphology, composition and chemical state of coatings based on titanium nitride obtained using the condensation method with ion bombardment. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to analyse the structure and composition of the coatings produced at different formation times. It was determined that coatings formed at different times still have a sufficiently close chemical composition and contain titanium nitride (TiN), titanium oxynitride (TiN<sub>x</sub>O<sub>1-x</sub>), titanium oxide (TiO<sub>x</sub>) and titanium carbide (TiC). The paper demonstrates that the increase in the formation time of coatings leads to a decrease in the proportion of carbon in the amorphous state and an increase in the fraction of carbon which is a part of titanium carbides. In the composition of coatings formed in 15 and 50 minutes, the fraction of carbon chemically bonded to titanium differs by a factor of two. The XPS analysis with the Ar+ ion sputtering showed that the coatings have an uneven distribution of elements in depth. It is demonstrated that with the increase in etching time, a significant decrease in the total carbon concentration in the coating is observed. At the same time, the proportion of carbon chemically bonded to titanium increases. It was also found that the TiN decreases, while the amount of TiN<sub>x</sub>O<sub>1-x</sub> and TiO<sub>x</sub> increases. Basing on the data obtained, we propose descriptions for the dynamics of diffusion of carbon and oxygen and the formation of carbides, oxynitrides, and titanium oxides during the formation of coatings.