TiN films prepared by unbalanced planar magnetron sputtering under control of photoemission of Ti

TiN films have been prepared by unbalanced planar magnetron sputtering, where the flux of sputtered Ti atoms was maintained constant by adjusting N-2 gas flow during sputtering. At a set point of 75% of the Ti signal in pure Ar gas, the film resistivity has a minimum, the film stress becomes a minimum and the appearance is most gold-like. With an increase in ion bombardment, the internal stress increases, whereas the film resistivity decreases. These results confirm that stoichiometric TiN films are prepared at the set point of 75%, where the target surface is not fully covered by TiN. The energetic ions appear to improve the properties of the TiN films.