Cathodic cage plasma deposition of TiN and TiO2 thin films on silicon substrates

Cathodic cage plasma deposition (CCPD) was used for growing titanium nitride (TiN) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) thin films on silicon substrates. The main advantages of the CCPD technique are the uniformity, tridimensionality, and high rate of the film deposition that occurs at higher pressures, lower temperatures, and lower treatment times than those used in conventional nitriding treatments. In this work, the influence of the temperature and gas atmosphere upon the characteristics of the deposited films was investigated. The TiN and TiO2 thin films were characterized by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy to analyze their chemical, structural, and morphological characteristics, and the combination of these results indicates that the low-cost CCPD technique can be used to produce even and highly crystalline TiN and TiO2 films.