HIGHLY SENSITIVE IN-SITU MONITORING OF MECHANICAL-STRESS DURING ION-BEAM-ASSISTED DEPOSITION OF THIN TITANIUM NITRIDE FILMS

A sample holder based on the cantilever-plate technique was developed for capacitive in-situ monitoring of mechanical stress in thin films d uring deposition. The stress resolution is better than 0.7 MPa. Using this sample holder, thin titanium nitride films were deposited on sili con substrates by either reactive evaporation or by 2-keV ion-beam-ass isted deposition at ambient temperature. The parameters deposition rat e, ion to atom arrival rate and ion species were varied to investigate their influence on stress evolution. It was found that reactively eva porated titanium nitride films show a tensile stress value of about 0. 5 GPa, which is nearly independent of the deposition rates used. A max imum in tensile stress is observable during the early stages of growth . This indicates the completed coverage of the substrate. The compress ive stress of several GPa in films prepared by ion-beam-assisted depos ition correlates well with the maximum momentum transfer for the exami ned parameter range. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A.