Ion bombardment during thin film growth is known to cause structural and
morphological changes in the deposited films and thus affecting the film
properties. These effects can be due to the variation in the bombarding ion
flux or their energy. We have deposited titanium nitride films by two
distinctly different methods, viz. Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) plasma
sputtering and bias assisted reactive magnetron sputtering. The former
represents low energy (typically less than 30 eV) but high density plasma
(1011cm−3), whereas, in the latter case the ion
energy is controlled by varying the bias to the substrate (typically a few
hundred volts) but the ion flux is low (109cm−3). The
deposited titanium nitride films are characterized for their structure,
grain size, surface roughness and electrical resistivity.