Interfacial engineering of nanostructured titanium nitride thin films

Abstract

The properties of TiN films grown on Borosilicate Glass, quartz, MgO (100) and nuclear grade 316LN Stainless Steel (SS) substrates by RF Magnetron sputtering in 100% pure nitrogen plasma are reported. The optical reflectance of the films was 5% on SS 316LN substrates and 35% on glass in the visible region. The colour of the films could be varied from blue to golden yellow through red. It is demonstrated that the titanium and nitrogen reaction is film-substrate interface-dependent. Independent of processing conditions, the films were X-ray amorphous on glass, quartz and MgO substrates. On the SS substrates the films showed a nanocrystallite size of 16 nm at a substrate temperature of 553 K. The crystallite size, even at 623 K, was only 40 nm. The grain size on amorphous substrates decreased with increasing nitrogen pressure, while on crystalline MgO and SS substrates, it showed the reverse trend. Similarly, roughness increased with an increase in working pressure on amorphous substrates, while it decreased with an increase in working pressure on the crystalline substrates.