VOLUME 19 NUMBER 1 (January to June 2026)

Deposition of titanium nitride films using an upscaled magnetized sheet plasma system

Titanium nitride (TiN) is a widely used thin film in different industries. Many studies have examined TiN film growth using conventional deposition systems. However, studies using a magnetized sheet plasma system (MSPS) to grow TiN films with Ti as the sputtering target remain limited. In this work, MSPS sputter deposition parameters such as plasma current (4 and 6 A) and argon:nitrogen (Ar:N2) flow rate ratios (125:25, 100:50) were correlated with the properties of the resulting TiN films. Raman spectral analyses, x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive spectral analyses revealed that films deposited at 6 A and higher Ar content (125:25) exhibited strong (220) preferred orientation with a crystallite size of 2.13 nm and thickness of 0.94 µm. Films deposited at 4 A and high N2 content (100:50) showed smaller crystallites (0.28 nm) and thinner films (0.20 µm). The (TA+LA)/TO Raman ratio and EDS results indicated that high N2 content (100:50) produced nitrogen-rich films (Ti:N ≈ 0.50–0.76), whereas higher argon flow and plasma current yielded near-stoichiometric TiN (Ti:N ≈ 0.81–0.95). These results demonstrate that plasma current and gas-flow ratio strongly govern the structural evolution and stoichiometry of TiN films in the MSPS.