Influence of ion bombardment on structure and properties of TiZrN thin film

Abstract

The study is focused on the characterization of TiZrN thin film by controlling the behavior of ion bombardment. Thin films are grown using radio frequency magnetron sputtering process on Si wafer. The negative bias voltage ranging from −20V to −130V was applied to the substrate. The ion current density increases rapidly as substrate bias is lower than −60V, then slightly increases as the critical value about −60V is exceeded. At the substrate bias of −60V, the ion current density is close to 0.56mA/cm2. The resistivity measured by four-point probe decreases from conditions −20V to −60V and then increases for substrate bias increases from −60V to −130V. The resistivity of TiZrN films is contributed from the packing factor. The N/TiZr ratios about 1 were measured by Rutherford backscattering spectrometer, and the packing factors of TiZrN films can also be obtained by the results of RBS. Field Emission scanning electron microscope (FEG-SEM) is used to characterize the thickness and structure of the deposited TiZrN film. X-ray diffraction (XRD) is used to determine the preferred orientation and lattice parameter. The precursor results of XRD show that all the coating samples exhibited (111) preferred orientation, and the hardness values of TiZrN films were ranging from 20 to 40GPa. To sum up the precursor studies, the TiZrN films which can improve the properties from TiN and ZrN is a new ceramic material with higher potential. Following the advance process and analysis research, the structure and properties can be correlated and as a reference for industry application.