COMPOSITION AND TRIBOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF CHEMICALLY VAPOR-DEPOSITED TIN LAYER

Titanium nitride is well known for various applications such as mechan ic. microelectronic or jewellery. Physically vapour deposited TIN film s are widely studied but very few data are available about chemically vapour-deposited thin films. In the present paper, TiN films of less t han 1 mu m thick are deposited by low pressure chemical vapour deposit ion from the TiCl4-NH3-H-2 gaseous phase onto silicon substrates. Ruth erford backscattering spectrometry analyses show that TiN films are al ways close to the stoichiometry. The contamination levels are very low : less than 3.5% for oxygen and less than 0.1% for chlorine. The densi ty values lie in the range 3.5-4 g cm(-3). Deposited films are very ad herent to the substrate as confirmed by micro-scratch tests. Friction coefficient and wear are studied through a pin-on-disc tribometer in a ir and at room temperature. The common value of 0.2 for friction coeff icient is obtained even for films as thin as 120 nm. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A.