Phase tailoring of dense tantalum films for improving hardness of titanium implants using negative substrate bias during DC sputtering at low temperature

This work reports the deposition of a dense α-Ta and β-Ta films to enhance the surface hardness and biocompatibility of Ti by applying a different negative substrate bias during direct current (DC) sputtering. When a Ta film was deposited with a negative substrate bias voltage of 70 V, the microstructure of the film exhibited a single β-Ta phase.