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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2011
Titanium-aluminum alloys are proved to be a viable candidate material in the field of structural coatings due to their high temperature creep and oxidation resistance in addition to being a lightweight material. In the present paper, we study the effect of applied power on the mechanical properties and surface chemistry of dc-magnetron sputtered Ti3AI thin films. While SEM and XRD investigate the structure and morphology of the deposited films, XPS and AES proved to be an essential tool for studying the surface chemistry and detailed chemical bonding information of the Ti3AI thin films. Glancing angle XPS and Auger depth profiling were carried out to study the chemistry at a few layers beneath the surface to monitor the changes in the stoichiometry of Ti3AI films. Microhardness measurements indicate an increase in the thin film hardness with increased sputtering power. These data were further compared to thin films deposited under liquid N2 temperatures.