Nitriding of Evaporated-Ti Thin Films by Ion Implantation

Abstract

Nitrogen ions ( N 2 + ) with 62 keV have been implanted into 100-nm-thick Ti films evaporated on thermally cleaned NaCl substrates. Unimplanted and N-implanted Ti films have been examined by transmission electron microscopy, Rutherford backscattering spectrometry and elastic recoil detection analysis. The analysis has provided evidence that N-implantation results in the epitaxial formation of NaCl-type TiN y and simultaneously induces the release of H from evaporated-Ti films containing TiH x . The nitriding of evaporated-Ti films is mainly divided into two elemental processes. One is accompanied by the hcp-fcc transformation and the other is not. The formation mechanism for TiN y is discussed.