Phase evolution of tantalum nitride and tantalum carbide films with PBII parameters

Tantalum nitride and tantalum carbide films were fabricated using magnetron sputtering of tantalum followed by nitrogen and carbon plasma-based ion implantation (N-PBII and C-PBII). The phaseevolution and morphology of the films were studied using glancing angle X-ray diffraction (GXRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It was found that the main phase in the tantalum nitride films was crystalline TaN_0.1 whose grain size increases with increasing implantation voltage and phase content increases with increasing implantation dose. In the tantalum carbide film, the main phase was Ta ₂C. TaC phase also appeared as the implantation dose increased.XRD results from various glancing angles show that the phases with high nitrogen or carbon content, Ta₄N₅ and TaC, are present in the surface of the films. X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) from the tantalum carbide film reveal that the surface carbon content is higher than that of the inner film.