Reactive sputter deposition of TiN layers: modelling the growth by characterization of particle fluxes towards the substrate

Abstract

The growth of reactively sputtered TiN films is discussed. First, an overview of the existing models in the literature that describe the development of the orientation and microstructure is given. Then, these models are critically confronted with the results of experiments published in the literature and performed by the authors. The latter experiments focus especially on the determination of the energy flux and atomic N/Ti flux towards the substrate and lead to the conclusion that these fluxes towards the substrate play a key role in the growth of the TiN films. This relation between these fluxes and the microstructure of the TiN films gives further evidence to the previously published extended structure zone model.

The fictional transition of the preferential orientation of yttria-stabilized zirconia thin films

“…shown before by our research group [30,31], a textural change could be explained by a transition from zone T to zone II growth. However, for this kind of transition to happen, the mobility, and therefore the EPA, must drastically increase.…”

Angular-resolved energy flux measurements of a dc- and HIPIMS-powered rotating cylindrical magnetron in reactive and non-reactive atmosphere

“…Not only the total energy flux arriving at the substrate plays a vital role, but the energy per arriving adparticle plays a crucial role in the growth behavior of the thin film [12,13]. It can be either desirable (e.g.…”

“…flexible solar panels). Furthermore, the energy flux towards the substrate plays a vital role in the growth behavior of the thin film [12,13]. For the latter, the energy per arriving adparticle is of high importance.…”

Influence of oxygen flow and film thickness on the texture and microstructure of sputtered ceria thin films

“…3), resulting in a pure [200] out-ofplane oriented thin film. Also, the low EPA gives evidence for zone T conditions [18,19]. Indeed, grains with different orientations initially coalesce in this zone but as the film becomes thicker, they are overgrown by geometrically faster growing grains.…”

“…The extended structure zone model (ESZM) describes the evolution of the microstructure of a growing film as a function of the adatom mobility [18,19]. The adatom mobility is primarily influenced by the available energy per adatom arriving on the growing film or surface (= EPA) [20,21].…”