Stress in and texture of PVD deposited metal nitride films

Thin metal nitride films deposited by Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) are used amongst many other applications as wear protective coatings in tool industry or as diffusion barriers in integrated circuit technology. Typically these films exhibit a residual in-plane stress when deposited onto rigid substrates such as silicon wafers or cutting tools. This stress influences the performance of the films in application: too high compressive stress will cause buckling of the film; too high tensile stress will promote cracking of the film under load. Both consequences are undesirable in the application of the thin film. The aim of this thesis is to extend the knowledge on the influence of deposition parameters on the characteristics of metal nitride thin films deposited by magnetron sputtering, a commonly employed PVD technique. More specifically the correlation of the generation of film stress and the crystallographic texture of thin titanium nitride films is studied.Material Science and EngineeringMechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineerin