Comparison of ZrN and TiN formed by plasma based ion implantation & deposition

ZrN and TiN films have been deposited on Si substrates without additional heating using plasma based ion implantation & deposition (PBII&D) with pulse voltage from 0 to 5 kV. High quality columnar films have been obtained in both systems with a slight nitrogen deficiency. For ZrN, a marked reduction of the growth rate was observed when depositing with pulse bias, which was not observed for TiN, caused presumably by different partial sputter yields. A transition of the texture from (111) to (200) is again present in both systems, however with the transition occurring at a different pulse bias. Hardness values of 18–20 GPa and 22–24 GPa have been observed for TiN and ZrN, respectively.