Phase mixture in MOCVD and reactive sputtering TiOxNy thin films revealed and quantified by XPS factorial analysis.

Abstract Titanium oxynitride thin films have been deposited by low-pressure metalorganic chemical vapour deposition and reactive sputtering. The growth temperature for chemical vapour-deposited films and water vapour partial pressure for sputter-deposited films have been used to modulate the chemical composition. Both series have been analysed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) in order to describe the structure of the materials using a factorial analysis approach. Titanium and metalloid concentrations have also been determined and compared to an elemental analysis performed using Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy and nuclear reaction analysis. The two deposition methods led …