Nano-structure and electrical properties of N+ ion implanted titanium thin films as a function of N+ ion flux

Nitrogen ions of 10 keV with different fluxes ranging from 5 × 1017 to 2 × 1018 ions/cm2 were implanted in Ti thin films of 61.5 nm thickness deposited on glass substrate, by means of electron beam evaporation. X-ray diffrac- tion (XRD) and atomic force microscope (AFM) were used to obtain the crystallographic characteristics and the surface morphology of the samples, respectively. Rutherford Back Scattering (RBS) technique was employed, in order to obtain film thickness and also investigate the N+ ions distribution in Ti thin films. Average electrical resis- tance of the samples was measured by four point probe method. The results showed that, ?-Ti4N3-x phase of Tita- nium nitride is formed with N+ ion implantation, and intensity of this peak increased with N+ ion flux. Furthermore, grain size, surface roughness and average resistance of samples were also increased with N+ flux. RBS spectra of the samples showed that both film thickness and the film density increased with N+ ion flux. An explanation on the ion implanation process is given for this observation.