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Mechanical properties of nanocrystalline and epitaxial TiN films on (100) silicon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

H. Wang ,
A. Sharma ,
A. Kvit ,
Q. Wei ,
X. Zhang ,
C. C. Koch  and
J. Narayan
H. Wang
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695–7916
A. Sharma
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695–7916
A. Kvit
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695–7916
Q. Wei
Affiliation:
North Carolina A–7916
X. Zhang
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-7916
C. C. Koch
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-7916
J. Narayan
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-7916
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Abstract

We investigated mechanical properties of TiN as a function of microstructure varying from nanocrystalline to single crystal TiN films deposited on (100) silicon substrates. By varying the substrate temperature from 25 to 700 °C during pulsed laser deposition, the microstructure of TiN films changed from nanocrystalline (having a uniform grain size of 8 nm) to a single crystal epitaxial film on the silicon (100) substrate. The microstructure and epitaxial nature of these films were investigated using x-ray diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Hardness measurements were made using nanoindentation techniques. The nanocrystalline TiN contained numerous triple junctions without any presence of amorphous regions. The width of the grain boundary remained constant at less than 1 nm as a function of boundary angle. Similarly the grain boundary structure did not change with grain size. The hardness of TiN films decreased with decreasing grain size. This behavior was modeled recently involving grain boundary sliding, which is particularly relevant in the case of hard materials such as TiN.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 16 , Issue 9 , September 2001 , pp. 2733 - 2738
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2001

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