Microstructural modification of TiN deposited by magnetron ion plating: Influence of magnetic field configuration

Abstract

Three operating modes of a single magnetron were used during deposition processes: balanced magnetron configuration with no external magnetic field and no bias potential applied (magnetron only), balanced magnetron configuration with permanent magnet cages positioned around the deposition volume to form a closed field configuration (BM mode) and an unbalanced magnetron closed field configuration (UBM mode). The influence of the deposition rate and ion j i to deposited metal atom j m flux ratio j i/ j m at the substrate surface on the texture evolution was discussed. The deposition rate distribution over the target to substrate distance was found to depend on magnetic field configuration and also to be different in metallic and reactive mode. In UBM mode it was possible to obtain nearly constant bias current density along the deposition volume at the constant bias potential. The preferred crystalline orientation was changed from (200) to (111) by increasing target to substrate distance in both BM and UBM modes, while the film deposited in magnetron-only configuration preserved (111) texture.