X-ray photoemission spectra of reactively sputtered TiN1.0 films are recorded without interference from adsorbed contaminants or ion sputter cleaning damage. In this way, the transition from hcp TiN0.3 to fcc TiN1.0 is characterized by a discontinuity in film stoichiometry, Ti 2p splitting energy, and Ti 2p3/2 binding energy as a function of the Ar/N2 ratio during sputtering. The line shapes of the N 1s and 2s transitions experience only an asymmetric broadening on forming fcc TiN. The core-level N 1s transition of fcc TiN is modeled as two components peaks with binding energies at 396.8 and 396.0 eV. Similarly, the valence band N 2s transition has corresponding component peaks at 16.8 and 16.2 eV. These high and low binding energy pairs are interpreted as on-site Ns and interstitial site Ni populations of nitrogen in a fcc TiN lattice, respectively. The ratio of N/Ti is 1.0 and the Ns/Ni ratio is approximately 6. Both ratios are independent of the composition of the sputtering gas mixture and the substrate temperature once fcc TiN is formed. The core level Ti 2p transition in fcc TiN is characteristic of a single Ti3+ oxidation state with a line shape that is also insensitive to the gas composition and the substrate temperature during sputtering.

The adsorption probability of CO on Pt(110) was determined to be 0.7 by modulated beam (MBRS) and thermal desorption over a temperature range of 195 to 625 K. By MBRS the desorption rate constant, kd, was measured to be 6×1014 exp{−35.3 (kcal mol−1)/RT s−1} in the low coverage limit. This high value for the desorption pre-exponential factor was explained utilizing transition state theory. The low coverage value of kd was employed to calculate the thermal desorption spectrum, describing the adsorbed state by a one-dimensional Ising model. The repulsive interaction parameter which yielded the best fit was ω=1.5+2.5ϑ kcal mol−1.

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The electrical resistivity of reactively sputtered TiN films was measured as a function of film thickness. The effect of directionality of the sputtered atoms, substrate temperature, bias voltage, deposition rate, and film morphology on the electron conductivity in TiN films was studied. The combination of rapid deposition rate and high substrate temperature with bias-collimated sputtering results in TiN films with the lowest resistivity, 45 μΩ cm, the largest temperature coefficient of resistance, 1355 ppm, and the highest superconducting transition temperature, 5.04 K. These films are characterized by small grains with mixed <111≳ and <200≳ orientation and reduced electron scattering with an estimated electron mean-free path of 96 nm.