Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
5353089 Applied Surface Science 2016 5 Pages PDF
Abstract
Reactive gas pulse (RGP) sputtering approach was used to prepare TiN thin films through periodically changing the N2/Ar gas flow ratio. The obtained RGPTiN film possessed a hybrid architecture containing compositionally graded and multilayered structures, composed of hcp Ti-phase and fcc TiN-phase sublayers. Meanwhile, the RGP-TiN film exhibited a composition-oscillation along the film thickness direction, where the Ti-phase sublayer had a compositional gradient and the TiN-phase retained a constant stoichiometric ratio of Ti:N ≈ 1. The film modulation ratio λ (the thicknesses ratio of the Ti and TiN-phase sublayer) can be effectively tuned by controlling the undulation behavior of the N2 partial flow rate. Detailed analysis showed that this hybrid structure originated from a periodic transition of the film growth mode during the reactive sputtering process.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Chemistry Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
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