CEMS studies of thermally treated Fe/TiN coatings on Si(1,0,0)

Thin layers of 25 nm 57Fe have been evaporated on Si-wafers in high vacuum in order to enhance the sensitivity of Conversion Electron Mossbauer Spectroscopy (CEMS). On the 57Fe layer, 25 nm of TiN has been deposited using plasma activated reactive sputtering (Sputron). CEMS enables nondestructive characterisation and determination of physico-chemical properties of iron-containing phases in depth up to 300 nm. Results of Mossbauer spectroscopy have been applied to determine the mechanism for interfacial bonding and the influence of thermal treatment of the samples in UHV up to 873 K. Temperature dependence of the development of different iron-nitrides at the interface Fe/TiN and diffusion of nitrogen into the Fe-layer have been investigated.