THERMAL AND ION IRRADIATION STABILITY OF DIRECT-CURRENT SPUTTERED TINB-C-N MULTILAYERS/

The response of TiN/B-C-N multilayers to vacuum annealing at 900 degre es C and to 300 keV argon irradiation is studied. Changes in compositi on, stress field. bilayer repeat length, and layered structure are rep orted. The modifications observed during thermal annealing are mainly related to the departure of nitrogen because of the initial high state of compressive stress. During irradiation, the viscous flow of atoms perpendicular to the stress field causes an increase of the bilayer re peat length and interdiffusion between each layer. This mechanism lead s to relaxation of stress and to the disappearance of the layered stru cture for higher dose. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.