Optical characterization of TiN produced by metal-plasma immersion ion implantation

The dependence of the optical properties of TiN thin films prepared by meta l-plasma immersion ion implantation (Me-PIII), using a cathodic arc as the source of Ti ions, on the pulse voltage and the gas composition was investi gated. High voltage pulses up to -10 kV at a duty cycle of 9% were used whi le the gas flow was varied between 20 and 50 seem. For all bias voltages Ti N films oriented with the (100) axis normal to the surface was obtained. Fo r the screened plasma energy omega (ps) a strong dependence on the gas mixt ure was found, increasing from 2.6 eV for high flow/current (F-N2/I-arc) ra tios to more than 3.5 eV for low F-N2/I-arc ratios. This is correlated with a reduction of the nitrogen content as the composition changes concurrentl y from TiN0.95 to TiN0.55. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science BN. All rights reserve d.