Properties of titanium oxynitride films deposited on glass substrate by reactive high-power pulsed magnetron sputtering

Abstract

Titanium oxynitride (TiON) films were prepared without additional heating by reactive high-power pulsed magnetron sputtering at a total pressure of 0.7 Pa, changing the gas flow rates of nitrogen and oxygen. The composition and the chemical bonding in the films prepared on the glasses were obtained by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The titanium content gradually decreased from about 50% corresponding to TiN to about 30% corresponding to TiO2 with the increase in oxygen flow rate (FO2), whereas the oxygen content drastically increased with the slight increase in FO2. In X-ray diffraction results, the variation from the pattern of (200) texture to amorphous structure with increasing FO2 was observed. The film hardness gradually decreased from 22 to about 9 GPa with the increase in FO2, whereas the transmittance for the light with wavelengths longer than 400 nm and the electrical resistivity markedly increased with FO2.