Evolution of texture at growth of titanium nitride films prepared by photon and ion beam assisted deposition

The effect of the film thickness on the evolution of texture of polycrystalline titanium nitride films grown by photon and ion beam assisted deposition has been investigated. The layers were deposited in high-vacuum on (111)Si with the N-ion energy constant at 2 keV and the incident ion/titanium flux ratio constant at 0.66 ions/atom. X-ray pole figure measurements show that the biaxial {001} texture is changed to the biaxial {111} texture with an increase of the film thickness. The texture evolution is explained by the existence of open channeling directions and the minimization of the elastic deformation energy.