Synthesis of titaniferous films by the method of magnetron sputtering in a discharge with a small anode followed by annealing in nitrogen and air

The paper describes a method for the synthesis of titanium nitride films using magnetron sputtering in a small-anode discharge. As a result, the synthesized films exhibit the density lower than the density of films produced by the standard method of magnetron sputtering. The generated coatings were subjected to annealing in oxygen-bearing or nitrogen atmosphere. The resulting films were studied using several characteristics and methods: volt-ampere characteristics of the magnetron discharge and the small anode, images from scanning electron microscopy, x-ray phase analysis, resistometry and spectral measurements for optical transparency. Our study demonstrated that the samples synthesized in a setup with an anode are thicker than those synthesized without anode. They also exhibit a smaller size of crystallites, lower transparency, lower band gap and a higher resistance. Taking into account the unaffected regime of magnetron operation, this difference indicates about a lower film density.