Combination of an atmospheric pressured arc reactor and a magnetron sputter device for the synthesis of novel nanostructured thin films

Highlights: • An atmospheric-pressure transferred arc reactor and a PVD device are combined. • The atmospheric-pressure transferred arc reactor is used to synthesize TiN nanoparticles. • CrN thin films are deposited by means of the magnetron sputter device. • The influence of the combination on the properties of the nanoparticles and thin film is investigated. -- Abstract: Nanocomposite coatings are state of the art, nevertheless the possible material combinations are restricted. Therefore, this work demonstrates an approach to synthesize novel nanostructured thin films by producing the nanoparticles and thin films independently. An atmospheric-pressure transferred arc reactor is used to synthesize TiN nanoparticles. The device is linked to a magnetron sputter device with an aerodynamic lens system. The aerodynamic lens enables the in-situ introduction of the synthesized nanoparticles into the PVD chamber by compensating the pressure differences. In this study, the influence of the linkage on the properties of a CrN thin film as well as the chamber conditions (pressure, temperature, bias-voltage, and plasma) on the TiN nanoparticles are analyzed. The CrN thin film is only slightly affected by the incoming working gas of the nanoparticle reactor. The TiN nanoparticles reveal a crystallite size of 9.3 ± 2.3 nm and are successfully introduced into the PVD chamber as agglomerates with sizes of 0.04 μm² and are then deposited onto substrates. It is shown that the particle distribution, agglomerate size, morphology, and crack behavior can be influenced by the chamber conditions.