Electronic properties of binary and ternary, hard and refractory transition metal nitrides

Abstract

We present a detailed study of the microstructure and morphology of a very wide variety of binary transition metal nitrides (TiN, ZrN and TaN) grown by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) as well as of ternary nitrides consisting of Ti alloyed with Ta or Zr. We also present a critical investigation of their electronic properties such as the plasma energy, electrical resistivity and work function, with respect to their composition, microstructure and the electronic structure of the constituent metals using optical reflectance spectroscopy, Hall effect and Kelvin probe measurements.