Phase Separation into Nano-crystalline Nitrides in Ternary Ti-Si-N System via N Implantation

The reaction induced phase separation aimed for the distribution of nano-structured particles has been investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) in ternary Ti-Si-N film via N+ implantation. The fabrication of Ti-20at%Si film has made on Si substrates by ion beam sputtering (IBS), and then N+ implantation with 50 keV has been conducted on these films. The selected area electron diffraction (SAED) from as-deposited film shows amorphous Ti-Si. As-deposited Ti-Si film exhibited high stability even for the heat treatment at 773K for 3600s. N+ implantation induced the direct formation of nano crystalline of fcc-TiNx within the Ti-Si film. The XPS depth profiling and chemical shift suggest that the preferential nitriding of Ti accompanied with the segregation of SiNx occurred during N-implantation.