Multilayer thin films consisting of titanium nitride (TiN) and silicon nitride (SiNx) layers with compositional modulation periodicities between 3.7 and 101.7 nm have been grown on silicon wafers u ...

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Nanostructure formation during deposition of TiN SiNx nanomultilayer films by reactive dual magnetron sputtering

Titanium nitride (TiN) coatings have been deposited by RF reactive magnetron sputtering of a titanium target, in an atmosphere of argon and nitrogen. The coatings were deposited using different deposition conditions of gas composition, total pressure and indicated substrate temperature, on to titanium substrates that had received different preparation treatments. The structure of the coatings was examined as a function of deposition conditions by X-ray diffraction, and the crystallographic orientation was determined by use of a texture coefficient. The coatings on ground titanium substrates developed a strong (111) orientation from the earliest stages of growth, although the degree of orientation was dependent on deposition conditions. Although gas composition had no effect on film orientation, the intensity of the (111) orientation diminished with increasing pressure, as well as with increasing substrate temperature. On polished titanium substrates, the initial texture was (220), but this changed to (111) orientation with increasing coating thickness. The results are discussed in terms of thermodynamically stable orientations and the kinetics of coating development as a function of atomic matching of the coating and substrate.

Effect of substrate preparation and deposition conditions on the preferred orientation of TiN coatings deposited by RF reactive sputtering

https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/6670616/2003ThinSolidFilmsCarvalho.pdf

Stress analysis and microstructure of PVD monolayer TiN and multilayer TiN/(Ti,Al)N coatings

Texture control of sputter-deposited nitride films has provoked a great deal of interest due to its technological importance. Despite extensive research, however, the reported results are scattered and discussions about the origin of preferred orientation (PO) are sometimes conflicting, and therefore controversial. The aim of this study is to acquire a clear perspective in order to discuss the origin of PO of sputter-deposited nitrides. Among nitrides, we focus on titanium nitride (TiN), aluminum nitride (AlN), and tantalum nitride (TaN), which are three commonly used nitrides. First, we collected reported experimental results about the relation between operating conditions and PO, because PO is considered to be determined by film formation processes, such as surface diffusion or grain growth, which is affected by operating conditions. We also collected reported results about such PO-determining processes. Then, we categorized the PO-determining processes into an initial stage and a growth stage of film d...

Comprehensive perspective on the mechanism of preferred orientation in reactive-sputter-deposited nitrides

Structural, mechanical and tribocorrosion behaviour in artificial seawater of CrN/AlN nano-multilayer coatings on F690 steel substrates

Elastic strain energy under some conditions provides the major contribution to the total energy of a film growing on a substrate from condensing vapour. Polycrystalline films grown with intrinsic stress induced by energetic bombardment are expected to show orientations which minimize total energy. Even for a cubic crystal in a non-hydrostatic stress field the energy is a function of the relative orientation of the stress field and the crystallographic axes. The Gibbs free energy is minimized under constant stress and temperature conditions at thermal equilibrium. In this paper we derive expressions for the Gibbs free energy of a cubic crystal in uniaxial and biaxial stress fields and find the conditions under which it is a minimum. The sign of the expression is the quantity which determines the behaviour of a cubic crystal and if negative, predicts that the [111] direction of the crystal will align with the principal stress of a uniaxial stress field and will lie normal to the plane of principal stresses in a biaxial stress field. Experimental evidence is presented which shows that titanium nitride, TiN, which has a negative value of , obeys these predictions. If is positive, then the [100] direction of the crystal obeys the above rules rather than the [111] direction.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0953-8984/8/32/008/pdf

N H Hoang

Papers

The orientation dependence of elastic strain energy in cubic crystals and its application to the preferred orientation in titanium nitride thin films