Research on the Resistivity and Infrared Emissivity of Nonstoichiometric TiCrN Films

By adjusting the nitrogen flux of reactive magnetron co-sputtering, nonstoichiometric TiCrN films were prepared, and the resistivity and infrared emissivity were studied. The results show that the stoichiometric ratio in TiCrN films could be adjusted by change in the nitrogen flux. The nitrogen stoichiometric ratio increased from 0.39 to 0.94 with the increasing nitrogen flux. When the nitrogen flux was 2 sccm, very low nitrogen stoichiometric ratio led to excessive missing nitrogen atoms, resulting in severe lattice distortion of TiCrN lattice; thus, the resistivity and infrared emissivity increased sharply. When the nitrogen flux was greater than 6 sccm, the lattice distortion weakened and both the resistivity and the emissivity decreased obviously. As the nitrogen flux rose from 6 to 20 sccm, due to the decreased electron density, both the resistivity and the emissivity increased. The variation of the infrared emissivity was consistent with the resistivity. Reducing the nitrogen stoichiometric ratio in crystal TiCrN film suitably is beneficial to lower the resistivity and infrared emissivity properties.