Decorative Titanium Nitride Colored Coatings on Bell-Metal by Reactive Cylindrical Magnetron Sputtering

The transition metal nitrides like titanium nitride exhibit very interesting color variation properties depending on the different plasma deposition conditions using cylindrical magnetron sputtering method. It is found in this deposition study that nitrogen partial pressure in the reactive gas discharge environment plays a significant role on the color variation of the film coatings on bell-metal which is commercially used for decorative as well as for a variety of industrial applications. UV-visible spectrophotometer spectra show that good film coatings has been deposited at argon:nitrogen gas partial pressure of 1:1. Magnetic field and the deposition time also play an important role in the color variation of the deposited titanium nitride film.