Preparation of metal nitride and oxide thin films using shielded reactive vacuum arc deposition

Various metal nitride and oxide thin films were prepared using a shielded reactive vacuum are deposition. The cathode materials used as metal ion sources were Al, Ti, Cu, Cr, and Zn. These nitride and oxide films were deposited in pure N-2 and O-2 gas flows, respectively. First, the films were deposited for a short period by both non-shielded and shielded methods, and the macrodroplet appearance on the films was compared. Macrodroplets were reduced remarkably, to less than one-hundredth for Al in N-2, Zn in N-2 and Al in O-2. For Ti in N-2, Cr in N-2, Cu in N-2, Ti in O-2, and Zn in O-2, the macrodroplets were reduced by one-third, although they were not reduced for Cr in O-2. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that crystallized films were AlN, TiN, CrN, Cu3N with Cu, CuO, and ZnO, and that amorphous films were Al2O3, TiO2 and Cr oxide. Zn3N2 were weakly synthesized in Zn metal him. AlN, Al2O3 and TiO2 films were very transparent with refractive indices of 2.1, 1.6 and 2.3 at 500 nm, respectively. ZnO him also exhibited good transparency. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.