CHARACTERIZATION OF THE TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENT PHASE-TRANSITION OF EVAPORATED TI FILMS ON DIAMOND - PHASE IDENTIFICATION USING MAXIMUM-ENTROPY DATA-ANALYSIS

The carbidization of thin Ti films on natural diamond has been investi gated in the temperature range between room temperature and 700 degree s C using x-ray-photoelectron-spectroscopy. It is possible to separate chemical phases in Ti2p(3/2) electron peaks after deconvolution of th e spectrometer's broadening function. We employ Bayesian information, using maximum entropy prior information. The apparatus function is der ived from measured spectra of the Fermi edge of a silver sample. Data analysis of reconstructed Ti2p(3/2) core level spectra shows that, wit h increasing temperature, Ti films are transformed from metallic Ti to a mixed phase consisting of metallic Ti and TiC0.56. No carbidic phas e is found with a ratio of carbidic C to Ti smaller than 0.56. The met allic layer is fully transformed to TiC0.56 at 430 degrees C. At highe r temperatures, the concentration ratio of carbidic C to Ti depends ne arly linearly on temperature. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.