Experimental Study on Thickness and Surface Roughness of Co-Sputtered Titanium and Alumina Films

Abstract

Titanium (Ti) and Alumina (Al2O3) thin films have been coated using co-sputtering technique on SS304, Copper substrates. Magnetron sputtering technique has been employed, in this Direct current and Radio Frequency powers have been used in the presence of argon gas to sputter Ti and Al2O3 respectively. Experimental runs are planned by Design of Experiments (DOE) approach. Investigations have been conducted to determine optimize conditions for thickness and surface roughness of the thin films. It is vital to have a precise knowledge of film thickness and its roughness. Both of these have been measured in terms of nanometer using surface profilometer and Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) respectively.