Abstract
Titanium nitride thin films were grown on Si(001) and fused silica substrates by radio frequency reactive magnetron sputtering. Post-growth annealing of the films was performed at different temperatures from 300 °C to 700 °C in nitrogen ambient. Films annealed at temperatures above 300 °C exhibit higher surface roughness, smaller grain size and better crystallinity compared to the as-grown film. Bandgap of the films decreased with the increase in the annealing temperature. Hall effect measurements revealed that all the films exhibit n-type conductivity and had high carrier concentration, which also increased slightly with the increase in the annealing temperature. Adetailed depth profile study of the chemical composition of the film was performed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirming the formation of Ti-N bond and revealing the presence of chemisorbed oxygen in the films. Annealing in nitrogen ambient results in increased nitrogen vacancies and non-stoichiometric TiN films.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 239 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-11 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Crystals |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Funding:Wewould liketoacknowledge the DeanshipofScientificResearch atKingFahd University of Petroleum and Minerals for the financial support for this work through internal research grant # IN131056.
Funding Information:
We would like to acknowledge the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals for the financial support for this work through internal research grant # IN131056.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Keywords
- Atomic force microscopy
- Magnetron sputtering
- Thin film semiconductors
- Titanium nitride
- X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Chemical Engineering (all)
- Materials Science (all)
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Inorganic Chemistry