Structural analysis of TiNx films prepared by reactive-ion-beam-enhanced deposition

Heteroepitaxial growth of TiN film on MgO (100) by reactive magnetron sputtering

TiN thin films were deposited on MgO (100) substrates at different substrate temperatures using rf sputtering with Ar/N2 ratio of about 10. At 700°C, the growth rate of TiN was approximately 0.05 μm/h. The structural and electrical properties of TiN thin films were characterized with x-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Hall measurements. For all deposition conditions, XRD results show that the TiN films can be in an epitaxy with MgO with cube-on-cube orientation relationship of (001)TiN // (001)MgO and [100]TiN // [100]MgO. TEM with selected-area electron diffraction pattern verifies the epitaxial growth of the TiN films on MgO. SEM and AFM show that the surface of the TiN film is very smooth with roughness approximately 0.26 nm. The minimum resistivity of the films can be as low as 45 μΩ cm.

Synthesis of cubic zirconium and hafnium nitride having Th3P4 structure

High-pressure synthesis is a powerful method for the preparation of novel materials with high elastic moduli and hardness. Additionally, such materials may exhibit interesting thermal, optoelectronic, semiconductuing, magnetic or superconducting properties. Here, we report on the high-pressure synthesis of zirconium and hafnium nitrides with the stoichiometry M3N4, where M = Zr, Hf. Synthesis experiments were performed in a laser-heated diamond anvil cell at pressures up to 18 GPa and temperatures up to 3,000 K. We observed formation of cubic Zr3N4 and Hf3N4 (c-M3N4) with a Th3P4-structure, where M-cations are eightfold coordinated by N anions. The c-M3N4 phases are the first binary nitrides with such a high coordination number. Both compounds exhibit high bulk moduli around 250 GPa, which indicates high hardness. Moreover, the new nitrides, c-Zr3N4 and c-Hf3N4, may be the first members of a larger group of transition metal and/or lanthanide nitrides with interesting ferromagnetic or superconducting behaviour.