Abstract
TiN thin films were deposited on MgO (100) substrates at different substrate temperatures using rf sputtering with Ar/N2 ratio of about 10. At 700°C, the growth rate of TiN was approximately 0.05 μm/h. The structural and electrical properties of TiN thin films were characterized with x-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Hall measurements. For all deposition conditions, XRD results show that the TiN films can be in an epitaxy with MgO with cube-on-cube orientation relationship of (001)TiN // (001)MgO and [100]TiN // [100]MgO. TEM with selected-area electron diffraction pattern verifies the epitaxial growth of the TiN films on MgO. SEM and AFM show that the surface of the TiN film is very smooth with roughness approximately 0.26 nm. The minimum resistivity of the films can be as low as 45 μΩ cm.
Highlights
Titanium nitride (TiN) thin films have been extensively used in a wide range of applications as wear-protective coatings on mechanical components, cutting tools, decorations, as well as diffusion barriers and metal gates in integrated circuits [1,2], owing to its remarkable physical and chemical properties such as high hardness, high thermal stability, low electrical resistivity, and high wear excellent corrosion resistance [3,4]
In our previous study of rf reactive sputtering of a Ti target for TiN polycrystalline films on Si (100), we found an optimum condition for growth of preferentially oriented TiN films [19] which was used for the present study for epitaxial growth of TiN films on MgO (100)
In summary, high-quality epitaxial TiN (100) films can be deposited on a 2-in MgO (100) substrate at 700°C by rf reactive sputtering process in a high vacuum
Summary
Titanium nitride (TiN) thin films have been extensively used in a wide range of applications as wear-protective coatings on mechanical components, cutting tools, decorations, as well as diffusion barriers and metal gates in integrated circuits [1,2], owing to its remarkable physical and chemical properties such as high hardness, high thermal stability, low electrical resistivity, and high wear excellent corrosion resistance [3,4]. In order to deposit thin films of TiN on various substrates, it is common to use processes such as physical vapor deposition (PVD) [8], chemical vapor deposition (CVD) [9], atomic layer deposition (ALD) [10], and hallow cathode ionic plating (HCIP). Among those processes, the PVD process is known to be easy and to present a good. (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM)
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