USE OF AUGER AND PHOTOELECTRON LINES IN THE IDENTIFICATION OF CHEMICAL-STATES OF NOVEL TERNARY TI-AL-O FILMS PREPARED BY REACTIVE MAGNETRONSPUTTERING ION PLATING

TI-Al-O layers were deposited on Si-[100] wafers at substrate temperat ures of 300 degrees C and 600 degrees C, using reactive magnetron sput tering ion plating (R-MSIP). An Al target was sputtered in rf-mode and a Ti target in de-mode simultaneously by an oxygen/argon plasma. The influence of the Al- and Ti-sputter power and of the deposition temper ature on composition and morphology of the Ti-Al-O layers were investi gated, together with the binding states of the components. All films w ere characterized by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) a nd X-ray induced Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). Special attention was paid to the interpretation of the O Is and O-KLL fine structure an d peak shifts. For the binary phases gamma-Al2O3 and TiO2 (rutile + an atase), good agreement with the literature was observed in each case. For the novel ternary phases, a continuous shift of the kinetic energy of the O-KL23L23 transition and the modified Anger parameter alpha' b etween the two binary phases could be detected, indicating a wide rang e of solid solubility between Al2O3 and TiO2. Furthermore, it was poss ible to determine the bond type of the phases by interpretation of the energy intervals between the peak positions of core- and valence-tran sitions in the O-KLL group. Results achieved by XPS/XAES were cross ch ecked by comparison with TEM and EPMA results. (C) 1998 Elsevier Scien ce S.A.