Texture development in titanium nitride films grown by low-energy ion assisted deposition

The development of the orientational order in thin titanium nitride films g rown by low energy ion assisted titanium deposition at room temperature is studied. The preferred orientation and texture are measured in dependence o n the ion energy, ion current density, angle of incidence and film thicknes s. The preferred orientation is changed from an {111} alignment of the TIN crystallites to the {100} orientation with increase of ion energy and ion c urrent density. The film formation at ion bombardment under a specifically selected angle results in a totally fixed orientation or biaxial texture of the crystallites. The measurements show also that the {100} biaxial textur e is changed to a {111} biaxial texture with increase of the film thickness . The texture evolution is discussed on the basis of the well-known models.