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.5th International Conference on Elementary Processes in Atomic Systems (CEPAS), Jun 21-25, 2011, Belgrade, Serbi