R. Ananthakumar

Effect of nitrogen ion implantation on structural and microstructural properties of reactive magnetron sputtered TiN thin films

Abstract Nitrogen ions with different doses were implanted into titanium nitride (TiN) thin films coated on mild steel substrate at 100 keV with doses of 5×1015 and 5×1016 ions/cm−2. The samples were characterised by X‐ray diffraction and found to have fcc structure with preferential orientation along the (200) plane. The presence of nitride (TiN), oxynitride (TiOxNy) and oxide (TiO2) were identified on the surface of the film as observed from X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis. Scanning electron microscopy image analysis of implanted samples showed changes in the surface after ion implantation. Energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy was used to determine the chemical composition of as prepared and ion implanted samples. The surface topography was studied by atomic force microscopy. Characteristic peaks were observed in the 150–300 and 400–600 cm−1 ranges from laser Raman studies.