Effect of nitrogen doping on TiOxNy thin film formation at reactive high-power pulsed magnetron sputtering

Vitezslav Stranak (1, 2, 3) , Marion Quaas (1, 2, 3, 4) , Robert Bogdanowicz (1, 3, 4, 5) , Hartmut Steffen (1, 3, 4, 5) , Harm Wulff (1, 3, 5) , Zdenek Hubicka (1, 2, 3, 4) , Milan Tichy (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) , Rainer Hippler (1, 3)

1 Institute of Physics
2 Institute of Physics v. v. i
3 Faculty of Mathematics and Physics [Praha/Prague]
4 INP - Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology
5 GUT - Gdańsk University of Technology

The paper is focused on a study of formation of TiO x N y thin films prepared by pulsed magnetron sputtering of metallic Ti target. Oxygen and nitrogen were delivered into the discharge in the form of reactive gases O 2 and N 2. The films were deposited by high-power impulse magnetron sputtering working with discharge repetition frequency f = 250 Hz at low (p = 0.75 Pa) and high (p = 10 Pa) pressure. The substrates were on floating potential and thermally stabilized at room temperature during deposition process. Post-deposition thermal annealing was not employed. The chemical composition from XPS diagnostic reveals formation of TiO x N y structure at low flow rate of oxygen in the discharge gas mixture. This result is confirmed by XRD investigation of N elements incorporation into the Ti-O lattice. Decrease of band-gap to values Eg ∼ 1.6 eV in TiOxNy thin film is attributed to formed Ti-N bonds. The discharge properties were investigated by time-resolved optical emission spectroscopy. Time evolution of particular spectral lines (Ar +, Ti +, Ti) is presented together with peak discharge current.

Mots clés: spectroscopic ellipsometry ) PACS: 52.25.Jm; 52.70.Kz; 52.77.Dq; 52.80.Vp; 61.05.cp.; 81.15.Cd; 82.80.Pv; 61.05.cp; TiOxNy; HIPIMS; time resolved optical emission spectroscopy; thin film diagnostic ( XRD; XPS

Vitezslav Stranak, Marion Quaas, Robert Bogdanowicz, Hartmut Steffen, Harm Wulff, et al.. Effect of nitrogen doping on TiOxNy thin film formation at reactive high-power pulsed magnetron sputtering. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 2010, 43 (28), pp.285203. ⟨10.1088/0022-3727/43/28/285203⟩. ⟨hal-00569651⟩