The effect of annealing treatment on microstructure and properties of TiN films prepared by unbalanced magnetron sputtering

TiN thin films were deposited on Si wafers using an unbalanced magnetron (UBM) sputtering technique and then annealed in vacuum at temperatures ranging from 300 to 900 °C. The microstructure and surface morphology of the thin films at various processing parameters were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The variation of the hardness and surface roughness over the course of annealing treatment temperature was investigated. Annealing treatment was found to induce changes in the microstructure, crystallinity, texture, grain size, hardness and roughness of TiN films. The hardness of TiN films decreased after heat treatment in the vacuum, while surface roughness increased significantly. Moreover, the maximum values of hardness and roughness could be observed in films annealed at 450 °C in comparison to those at other annealing temperatures.