Ion beam assisted deposition induced composition changes in titanium nitride

Titanium nitride films were produced by a newly developed photon and ion beam assisted deposition system (PHIBAD system). With an electron beam evaporator titanium was deposited on silicon substrates ill a controlled nitrogen environment. Optionally, tile growing films were bombarded with argon or nitrogen ions and/or illuminated with UV light. With these procedures delta-TiN films with distinct chemical composition were formed. The composition determination was done with elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA) to avoid the problems usually occurring with standard methods like AES. The results demonstrate that both impurity content and nitrogen to titanium ratio of the films are dependent on the ion current density. UV light illumination also has a positive influence on film composition. Generally, a certain energy transfer to the growing film is necessary to cause composition changes.