DEPOSITION AND MODIFICATION OF TITANIUM NITRIDE BY ION-ASSISTED ARE DEPOSITION

TiN films were deposited at ambient temperature onto silicon and sapphire substrates using a filtered Ti cathodic arc source and concurrent bombardment from a low energy nitrogen ion beam. The energy and flux of the nitrogen ions were varied and the influence on stress, microhardness, preferred orientation, and surface roughness of the deposited films was investigated. It was found that the stress and microhardness were linearly related and that both decreased with increasing energy of the bombarding ions. The range of TiN microhardness was found to be 26–38 GPa and the compressive stress was found to vary over the range of 0.15-7 GPa. The preferred orientation of the film was sensitive to film thickness, ion energy, and the arrival ratio of nitrogen to titanium ions. © 1995, American Vacuum Society. All rights reserved.