Effects of 200 keV argon ions irradiation on microstructural properties of titanium nitride films

This paper reports on a study of microstructrual changes in TiN/Si bilayers due to 200 key Ar+ ions irradiation at room temperature. The 240 nm TiN/Si bilayers were prepared by d.c. reactive sputtering on crystalline Si (100) substrates. The TiN films were deposited at the substrate temperature of 150 degrees C. After deposition the TiN/Si bilayers were irradiated to the fluences of 5 x 10(15) and 2 x 10(16) ions/cm(2). The structural changes induced by ion irradiation in the TiN/Si bilayers were analyzed by Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy (RBS), X-ray diffraction analyses (XRD) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The irradiations caused the microstructrual changes in TiN layers, but no amorphization even at the highest argon fluence of 2 x 10(16) ions/cm(2). It is also observed that the mean crystallite size decreases with the increasing ion fluence. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.