REACTIVELY SPUTTERED ZRNX BARRIER FILMS BETWEEN AU AND SIO2 - SURFACEAND INTERFACE ANALYSIS

The thermal stability and the interfacial reactions of Zr(N)/Au struct ures sputtered onto a SiO2 substrate were studied. The Zr base films w ere deposited by reactive sputtering in Ar-N2 mixtures; Au was deposit ed on top of formed Zr, Zr(N) or ZrN(x) layers. The annealing of the s amples was performed in vacuum and N. atmosphere for temperature range 200-450-degrees-C, (1 h). The AES, XRD, EPMA, SEM and STM methods wer e used to identify the surface/interface composition changes, surface morphology and phase formation in annealed and as-deposited samples. T he obtained results show that the formed nearly amorphous ZrN(x) film is effective against gold diffusion up to 450-degrees-C and that inner interface (ZrN(x)/SiO2) remained intact. The interdiffusion between c omponents, oxidation effects and porosity of formed structures increas e both with temperature and the reduction of nitrogen content in Zr(N) films.