1. TiN films fabricated by reactive gas pulse sputtering: A hybrid design of multilayered and compositionally graded structures
- Author
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Qiang Wan, Lumin Wang, Yuanyou Yang, Chenyang Lu, Mingjing Peng, Ning Liu, Feifei Zhang, Jiali Liao, and Jijun Yang
- Subjects
010302 applied physics ,Reactive gas ,Materials science ,General Physics and Astronomy ,chemistry.chemical_element ,02 engineering and technology ,Surfaces and Interfaces ,General Chemistry ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,Condensed Matter Physics ,01 natural sciences ,Surfaces, Coatings and Films ,Volumetric flow rate ,Pulse (physics) ,chemistry ,Tin thin films ,Sputtering ,Modulation ,0103 physical sciences ,Composite material ,0210 nano-technology ,Tin ,Stoichiometry - Abstract
Reactive gas pulse (RGP) sputtering approach was used to prepare TiN thin films through periodically changing the N2/Ar gas flow ratio. The obtained RGP TiN film possessed a hybrid architecture containing compositionally graded and multilayered structures, composed of hcp Ti-phase and fcc TiN-phase sublayers. Meanwhile, the RGP-TiN film exhibited a composition-oscillation along the film thickness direction, where the Ti-phase sublayer had a compositional gradient and the TiN-phase retained a constant stoichiometric ratio of Ti:N ≈ 1. The film modulation ratio λ (the thicknesses ratio of the Ti and TiN-phase sublayer) can be effectively tuned by controlling the undulation behavior of the N2 partial flow rate. Detailed analysis showed that this hybrid structure originated from a periodic transition of the film growth mode during the reactive sputtering process.
- Published
- 2016
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