Effects of Titanium Sputtering Current on Structure and Morphology of TiZrN Films Prepared by Reactive DC Magnetron Co-Sputtering

TiZrN films were deposited on unheated Si (100) substrates by reactive dc magnetron co-sputtering. Titanium and zirconium metals were used as sputtering targets. Ar and N sub(2) gas were used as sputtering gas and reactive gas, with the flow rates of 8 and 4 sccm, respectively. The Zr sputtering current was fixed at 0.6 A and Ti sputtering current varied from 0.6 to 1.2 A. The deposition time for all the deposited films was 60 min. The effects of Ti sputtering current on the structure and morphology of the films were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It was found that all the prepared films were (Ti,Zr)N solid solution. Furthermore, the lattice parameter was found to decrease whereas the crystallite size, RMS roughness and film thickness increased with increasing Ti sputtering current. As a result, the crystallinity of the films increased what is in agreement with XRD results.