REACTIVITY OF NITROGEN IN TITANIUM NITRIDE FILM FORMATION BY THE REACTIVE ION PLATING PROCESS

The reactivity of N2 PS Molecules with Ti atoms (neutral and/or ion) in TiN film formation has been measured quantitatively. The reactivity of N2 is expressed using the reaction probability of N2, Which is defined as the ratio of the rate of N2 adsorption or absorption by Ti to the rate of impingement. Increasing the fraction of Ti ions in all the evaporated Ti from 2.7 x 10(-3) to 0.26 enhances the N2 reaction probability up to 10(2) and facilitates the formation of stoichiometric TiN. The marked effect of plasma on the enhancement of the reactivity is only empirically known. This paper demonstrates the role of plasma in the ion plating process.