Change of preferred orientation in TiN thin films grown by ultrahigh vacuum reactive ion beam assisted deposition

The reactive sputter deposition of TiN thin films onto glass substrate at the ambient temperature using a homemade broad beam argon ion source was investigated in order to deposit the films with nanostructural characteristics. While constant Ar beam energy of 2 keV was used, the N2 partial pressure and the substrate current, adjusted by different accelerator grid potentials (Vacc) were varied. A negative substrate bias voltage (100 V) was additionally applied. The TiN film structure was investigated by XRD and STM methods. All deposited films exhibited (220) preferred orientation, and the change in normalized peak intensity (I220/d), lattice spacing (d220) and full-with at half-maximum (FWHM) were investigated. As a result of higher energy bombardment with 100 V negative substrate bias, compared to the substrate current change with Vacc, nearly constant (220) peak broadening with the increase of N2 partial pressure was obtained. The measured grain diameter (STM and XRD) confirms that the grain size is less than 12 nm, and the (220) preferred orientation was disturbed but not destructed.

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Low grain size TiN thin films obtained by low energy ion beam assisted deposition

Applied Surface Science ◽

10.1016/s0169-4332(00)00912-0 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 173 (3-4) ◽

pp. 290-295 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

J.M. López ◽

F.J. Gordillo-Vázquez ◽

O. Böhme ◽

J.M. Albella

Keyword(s):

Thin Films ◽

Grain Size ◽

Ion Beam ◽

Low Energy ◽

Ion Beam Assisted Deposition ◽

Tin Thin Films

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Ion Beam Assisted Deposition of TiN Thin Films on Si Substrate

Materials Science Forum ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/msf.518.155 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 518 ◽

pp. 155-160

Author(s):

V. Milinović ◽

M. Milosavljević ◽

M. Popović ◽

M. Novaković ◽

D. Peruško ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Thin Films ◽

Partial Pressure ◽

Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry ◽

Incident Angle ◽

Ion Beam ◽

Preferred Orientation ◽

Thin Layers ◽

Phase Identification ◽

Ion Energy ◽

Tin Thin Films

In this paper we present a study of the formation of TiN thin films during the IBAD process. We have analyzed the effects of process parameters such as Ar+ ion energy, ion incident angle, Ti evaporation rates and partial pressure of N2 on preferred orientation and resistivity of TiN layers. TiN thin films were grown by evaporation of Ti in the presence of N2 and simultaneously bombarded with Ar+ ions. Base pressure in the IBAD chamber was 1⋅10-6 mbar. The partial pressure of Ar during deposition was (3.1 – 6.6)⋅10-6 mbar and partial pressure of N2 was 6.0⋅10-6 - 1.1⋅10-5 mbar. The substrates used were Si (100) wafers. TiN thin layers were deposited to a thickness of 85 – 360 nm at deposition rates of Ti from 0.05 to 0.25nm/s. Argon ion energy was varied from 1.5 to 2.0 keV and the angle of ion beam incidence from 0 to 30o. All samples were analyzed by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS). The changes in concentration profiles of titanium, nitrogen and silicon were determined with 900 keV He++ ion beam. The RBS spectra were analyzed with the demo version of WiNDF code. We have also used X-ray diffraction (XRD) for phase identification. The resistivity of samples was measured with four-point probe method. The results clearly show that TiN thin layer grows with (111) and (200) preferred orientation, depending on the IBAD deposition parameters. Consequently, the formation of TiN thin layers with wellcontrolled crystalline orientation occurs. Also, it was found that the variations in TiN film resistivity could be mainly attributed to the ion beam induced damage during the IBAD process.

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