Abstract
In this work, we report the detailed investigation of the dependence of structural, morphological, electrical and mechanical properties on substrate bias of TiN films deposited on Si/SiO2 (100) using DC sputtering technique. The striking similarities between changes in the preferred orientation, grain size, N/Ti ratio, deposition rate, thickness, resistivity and hardness indicated a strong correlation among these properties. As the substrate bias was increased from 0 to 500 the grain size, deposition rate was found to decrease. However resistivity, hardness and N/Ti ratio was found to increase. The crystallographic orientation of the film changes from a mixture of (111) and (200) to (111) only with increasing nitrogen flow. Morphological studies were performed using field emission scanning electron microscopy. The cross-sectional structure of the film changed from cross-sectional to granular structure. The films with a high (111) diffraction peak intensity has a high resistivity and hardness and that with a high (200) peak has low resistivity and hardness.