Deposition of tantalum nitride thin films by D.C. magnetron sputtering S.K. Kim * , B.C. Cha School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Ulsan, Ulsan 680-749, South Korea Available online 28 September 2004 Abstract Thin films of tantalum nitride (TaN) were deposited on SKD11 tool steel substrate by a D.C. magnetron sputtering system. The influence of the N 2 /Ar gas ratio of the inlet gases on the structure, hardness, adhesion and wear resistance was investigated. The X-ray diffraction data showed that TaN deposited at low N 2 /Ar gas ratio, tetragonal h-Ta(330) and hexagonal TaN(101) were observed. Orthorhombic TaN(110) and orthorhombic Ta 3 N 5 were formed with the increase of the N 2 /Ar gas ratio. High hardness of the films was observed at the low N 2 /Ar gas ratio. The films deposited at N 2 /Ar gas ratio of 0.3 showed good adhesion, wear resistance and hardness of Hv 0.05 1450. The films deposited with etching time of 30 min at 133.32 Pa gave good adhesion. Thickness of the films decreased with applying the bias voltage. As the bias potential was increased, the hardness of the film increased and then decreased. The films with fine dome structure showed good wear resistance. D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: TaN; D.C. magnetron sputtering; Wear resistance; Adhesion 1. Introduction Transition metal nitrides are well known for their remarkable physical properties including high hardness and mechanical strength, chemical inertness, and high temperature stability. They are widely studied and have become technologically important for applications such as wear resistant coatings [1], protective coatings with func- tional optical properties [2] or for specific metallization properties in microelectronics [3]. Tantalum nitride (TaN) thin films are attractive for use as structural elements in integrated circuits. Most of the works on TaN have been done on their application in thin film resistors and diffusion barriers [4,5]. Very little work has been done on their application in hard wear resistant coatings. In this work, we report the effects of the N 2 /Ar gas ratio of inlet gases, the etching pressure and time and bias voltage on the structural and mechanical properties of magnetron-sputtered TaN thin films. 2. Experimental procedures The TaN films were produced in an unbalanced D.C. magnetron sputtering equipment. A circular sputter source 0040-6090/$ - see front matter D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.tsf.2004.08.059 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 522592228; fax: +82 522591688. E-mail address: [email protected] (S.K. Kim). Fig. 1. X-ray diffractograms of TaN films deposited with various N 2 /Ar gas ratios of inlet gases ((a) N 2 /Ar=0.1, (b) N 2 /Ar=0.2, (c) N 2 /Ar=0.3, (d) N 2 /Ar=0.4). Thin Solid Films 475 (2005) 202 – 207 www.elsevier.com/locate/tsf
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1.Deposition of Tantalum Nitride Thin Films by D.C. Magnetron Sputtering
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www.elsevier.com/locate/tsf
Thin Solid Films 475
Deposition of tantalum nitride thin films by D.C. magnetron sputtering
S.K. Kim*, B.C. Cha
School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Ulsan, Ulsan 680-749, South Korea
Available online 28 September 2004
Abstract
Thin films of tantalum nitride (TaN) were deposited on SKD11 tool steel substrate by a D.C. magnetron sputtering system. The influence
of the N2/Ar gas ratio of the inlet gases on the structure, hardness, adhesion and wear resistance was investigated. The X-ray diffraction data
showed that TaN deposited at low N2/Ar gas ratio, tetragonal h-Ta(330) and hexagonal TaN(101) were observed. Orthorhombic TaN(110)
and orthorhombic Ta3N5 were formed with the increase of the N2/Ar gas ratio. High hardness of the films was observed at the low N2/Ar gas
ratio. The films deposited at N2/Ar gas ratio of 0.3 showed good adhesion, wear resistance and hardness of Hv0.05 1450. The films deposited
with etching time of 30 min at 133.32 Pa gave good adhesion. Thickness of the films decreased with applying the bias voltage. As the bias
potential was increased, the hardness of the film increased and then decreased. The films with fine dome structure showed good wear