A Study on the Properties of TiN Films by Using Electron Beam Irradiation

Titanium nitride (TiN) films were deposited on the polycarbonate substrate by using radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering without intentional substrate heating. After deposition, the films were bombarded with intense electron beam for 20 minutes. The intense electron irradiation impacts on the crystalline, hardness and surface roughness of the TiN films. The films irradiated with an electron beam of 300 eV show the small grains on the surface, while as deposited TiN films did not showany grains on the surface. Also the surface harness evaluated with micro indenter was increased up to 18 Gpa at electron energy of 900 eV after electron beam irradiation. In addition, surface root mean square (RMS) roughness of the films irradiated with intense electron beam affected strongly. The films irradiated by electron beam with 900 eV have the lowest roughness of 1.2 nm in this study.