Excitation, ionization, and reaction mechanism of a reactive cathodic arc deposition of TiN

This paper discusses the excitation, ionization and reaction mechanism of reactive cathodic arc deposition of TiN. Such arc plasmas art operated in the arc discharge type PVD apparatus. The 50 A arc is operated in N₂ atmosphere of 0.13 to 26.6 Pa. The arc voltage, the electron energy distribution and the spectral intensities are measured as a function of pressure. The deposited films are analyzed by XPS. It follows from the result that (1) the N₂ molecules impact with the high energy electron to be excited or ionized; (2) Ti ⁺⁺ ions which are initially emitted from the cathode spot recombine with electrons and turn Ti⁺ ions and Ti atoms and the recombination ratio increases with increasing pressure; (3) the TiN compound is produced on the substrate surface in the ensuing process, the excited N₂ are adsorbed on the substrate surface, the N ₂ are dissociated to N atoms through collisions with Ti⁺ ions of 40-60 eV, the N atoms react with the Ti atoms to form TiN