Characterization of titanium nitride films deposited by cathodic arc plasma technique on copper substrates

TiN films were deposited directly on Cu substrates by a cathodic arc plasma deposition technique. The films were then characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GID), (TEM), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The preferred orientation of the film changed from (200) to (111) with increasing film thickness. Analyses of both the XRD and GID results showed that in the highly (111) textured grains, the (111) plane was approximately parallel to the film surface, while in the (200) textured grains, the (200) plane was tilted away from the film surface. Small-elongated crystallites with a large aspect ratio and textured grains were found on the TiN surface. AES, which was employed to examine the concentration depth profile, showed no apparent interdiffusion between Cu and TiN during the growth of the film. XPS results showed that amorphous TiO2, as well as titanium oxynitride, was present on the TiN surface. The spectra of Ti-2p, N-1s, O-1s and Cu-2p before and after the film being sputter etched through the entire film region were also discussed.