Preparation and Microstructure of Tantalum Nitride Thin Film by Cathodic Arc Deposition

Tantalum nitride (TaN) thin films are achieved on Si(111) and SS317L substrates by cathodic vacuum arc technique, which is rarely reported in the literature. The crystal structure, composition and surface morphology of the films are characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), auger electron spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy, respectively. The influence of substrate negative bias on crystal structure, composition, surface morphology of the TaN films is systematically studied. At the substrate bias of 0 V and -50 V, the amorphous TaN film is obtained. As the bias increases to -100 V, cubic TaN phase can be found. Stoichiometric TaN with hexagonal lattice preferred (300) orientation is prepared at a bias of -200 V. Combine the XRD and XPS results, the binding energy value of 23.6 eV of Ta 4f7/2 is contributed to hexagonal TaN. Compared to other techniques, TaN thin films fabricated by cathodic vacuum arc at various substrate biases show different microstructures.