Mass and energy resolved detection of ions and neutral sputtered species incident at the substrate during reactive magnetron sputtering of Ti in mixed Ar+N[sub 2] mixtures
- Department of Materials Science, the Coordinated Science Laboratory and the Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801 (United States)
The fluxes of ions and neutral sputtered particles incident at the growth surface during the deposition of TiN by reactive magnetron sputtering from a Ti target in mixed Ar+N[sub 2] discharges were determined using a combination of [ital in] [ital situ] double-modulation mass spectrometry, Langmuir probe, discharge, deposition rate, and film composition measurements. The N[sub 2] fraction [ital f][sub N[sub 2]] in the discharge was varied from 0 to 1 with the total pressure maintained at 3 mTorr (0.4 Pa). Target nitridation, observed directly through the detection of sputter-ejected TiN molecules, was found to occur over the narrow [ital f][sub N[sub 2]] range between [congruent]0.035 and 0.06. With [ital f][sub N[sub 2]][lt]0.1, more than 94% of the ion flux incident at the substrate is Ar[sup +] while for pure N[sub 2] discharges, N[sup +][sub 2] accounts for more than 95% of the incident ions. Both the incident Ar[sup +] and N[sup +][sub 2] ion fluxes are highly monoenergetic with energies corresponding to [ital eV][sub [ital s]], where [ital V][sub [ital s]] is the applied negative substrate bias with respect to the plasma potential. However, the energy distributions of incident Ti[sup +] and N[sup +] ions are extended due to the high-energy tails in their sputter-ejection energy distributions. The primary sputter-ejected particles are Ti and N atoms. TiN, TiN[sup +], and Ti[sup +] do not contribute significantly to film growth kinetics.
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-76ER01198
- OSTI ID:
- 7156563
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology, A (Vacuum, Surfaces and Films); (United States), Vol. 12:5; ISSN 0734-2101
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
TITANIUM
SPUTTERING
TITANIUM NITRIDES
DEPOSITION
ARGON IONS
COLLISIONS
NITROGEN IONS
THIN FILMS
CHARGED PARTICLES
ELEMENTS
FILMS
IONS
METALS
NITRIDES
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
PNICTIDES
TITANIUM COMPOUNDS
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
665300* - Interactions Between Beams & Condensed Matter- (1992-)