Preparation and characterization of nanostructured titanium nitride thin films at room temperature

Abstract

Nanostructured TiN thin films were grown by reactive magnetron sputtering deposition on Si (100) substrate at room temperature. The nanostructured TiN thin films were characterized by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), resistivity and hydrophobicity tests. The nanostructured TiN thin films had an average grain size 4.6 nm, an average roughness of 1.3 nm, a preferential orientation in the [111] direction and also they showed hydrophobicity Type I.