LOW-ENERGY IBAD - CORRELATION BETWEEN PROCESS PARAMETERS AND FILM PROPERTIES FOR ION-BEAM-ASSISTED EVAPORATION AND SPUTTER-DEPOSITION

Binary nitride films with Al, Cr and Ti as metal components have been deposited with ion beam assisted evaporation and sputtering (IBAD), an d the film properties are investigated in terms of the individual depo sition parameters. In the case of ion beam assisted evaporation the fl ux ratio between the film forming metal atoms and the nitrogen ions fr om the ion source was shown to enable a quantitative control of the co mposition and the chemical phases of the films. Detailed studies for T iN reveal the possibilities to manipulate texture and stress, the aver age grain size and the morphology of the films. Such results are discu ssed with an extended structure zone model, introducing the energy inp ut per film forming particle as the relevant parameter. Also, the stru ctural film properties and the deposition parameters are quantitativel y correlated with the hardness and the adhesion of the films. A dynami c process control during the beginning of TIN deposition on stainless steel resulted in distinctly improved adhesion properties. For the dep osition of TiN with a dual ion beam arrangement in which one ion beam bundle was directed onto a Ti-target and another onto the substrate wi th the growing film, a strong influence of the particle energies and t he incidence angles on the film texture and its directional orientatio n was found. Such effects are quantitatively related to the minimizati on of the free energy of the films and the influence of preferential r e-sputtering effects. For ion beam sputter deposition without simultan eous ion bombardment of the growing film, the texture and the film str ess are found to be controlled by energetic particles resulting from e lastic backscattering at the target surface.