Surface morphology evolution of epitaxial TiN(001) layers grown by reactive magnetron sputtering

The group IV-B transition metal nitride TiN is widely employed as a wear-resistant coating on mechanical components and as a diffusion barrier in microelectronic devices. I use the epitaxial growth of single crystal TiN as a model system for insight on the evolution of surface morphology and microstructure in more complex polycrystalline films. Atomically-flat MgO substrates, prepared by air annealing at 950...