Reactive magnetron cosputtering of hard and conductive ternary nitride thin films: Ti-Zr-N and Ti-Ta-N

Journal Article · Thu Jul 15 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. A, International Journal Devoted to Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1116/1.3426296· OSTI ID:22053722

Abadias, G; Koutsokeras, L E; Dub, S N; Tolmachova, G N; Debelle, A; Sauvage, T; Villechaise, P ^[1]

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1. Departement Physique et Mecanique des Materiaux, Institut Pprime, UPR 3346, CNRS, Universite de Poitiers, ENSMA, SP2MI--Teleport 2, Bd Marie et Pierre Curie, BP 30179, F86962 Futuroscope-Chasseneuil (France)

Ternary transition metal nitride thin films, with thickness up to 300 nm, were deposited by dc reactive magnetron cosputtering in Ar-N{sub 2} plasma discharges at 300 deg. C on Si substrates. Two systems were comparatively studied, Ti-Zr-N and Ti-Ta-N, as representative of isostructural and nonisostructural prototypes, with the aim of characterizing their structural, mechanical, and electrical properties. While phase-separated TiN-ZrN and TiN-TaN are the bulk equilibrium states, Ti{sub 1-x}Zr{sub x}N and Ti{sub 1-y}Ta{sub y}N solid solutions with the Na-Cl (B1-type) structure could be stabilized in a large compositional range (up to x=1 and y=0.75, respectively). Substituting Ti atoms by either Zr or Ta atoms led to significant changes in film texture, microstructure, grain size, and surface morphology, as evidenced by x-ray diffraction, x-ray reflectivity, and scanning electron and atomic force microscopies. The ternary Ti{sub 1-y}Ta{sub y}N films exhibited superior mechanical properties to Ti{sub 1-x}Zr{sub x}N films as well as binary compounds, with hardness as high as 42 GPa for y=0.69. All films were metallic, the lowest electrical resistivity {rho}{approx}65 {mu}{Omega} cm being obtained for pure ZrN, while for Ti{sub 1-y}Ta{sub y}N films a minimum was observed at y{approx}0.3. The evolution of the different film properties is discussed based on microstructrural investigations.

• OSTI ID: 22053722
• Journal Information: Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. A, International Journal Devoted to Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films, Vol. 28, Issue 4; Other Information: (c) 2010 American Vacuum Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1553-1813
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY
DEPOSITION
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
GRAIN SIZE
MAGNETRONS
PLASMA
PRESSURE RANGE GIGA PA
REFLECTIVITY
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
SOLID SOLUTIONS
TANTALUM
TANTALUM NITRIDES
THIN FILMS
TITANIUM
TITANIUM NITRIDES
X-RAY DIFFRACTION
ZIRCONIUM
ZIRCONIUM NITRIDES