Direct Current Magnetron Glow Discharge Plasma Characteristics Study for Controlled Deposition of Titanium Nitride Thin Film

Abstract

This paper reports on the study of direct current (DC) magnetron glow discharge plasma characteristics in a cylindrical magnetron system in argon-nitrogen. Presence of nitrogen gas makes the plasma environment reactive, and it results in significant changes of the plasma properties-number density, electron temperature, floating potential, and sheath thickness. Applied magnetic field is a parameter which is closely related to proper deposition of thin film. Cylindrical Langmuir probe and Emissive probe are used as diagnostics for the estimation of various plasma parameters indicated earlier. Controlled titanium nitride (TiN) thin film deposition on bell-metal at different argon-nitrogen gases ratio is another important study reported.

Study of the Optoelectronic Properties of Titanium Nitride Thin Films Deposited on Glass by Reactive Sputtering in the Cathodic Cage

“…Thus, the A4 sample had the most negligible thickness, while the A8 was the largest. The increase in the mean thickness that accompanies the growth of the N 2 flow is contrary to that found in studies that do not use a cathodic cage as a target, and this shows that the proportional increase in the N 2 flow decreases the deposition rate because, due to the "poisoning" of the target resulting from the formation of TiN on its surface, the performance of the reactive spraying decreases[23][24][25][26][27] .The uniformity of the deposited layer, indicated by the standard deviation of the average thickness of the films, also grew along with the N/Ti ratio, showing medium to high values. This indicates that nitrogen in the films contributes to forming more uniform films, which is corroborated by the literature[28][29][30] .…”

“…Thus, the A4 sample had the most negligible thickness, while the A8 was the largest. The increase in the mean thickness that accompanies the growth of the N 2 flow is contrary to that found in studies that do not use a cathodic cage as a target, and this shows that the proportional increase in the N 2 flow decreases the deposition rate because, due to the "poisoning" of the target resulting from the formation of TiN on its surface, the performance of the reactive spraying decreases [23][24][25][26][27] .…”