Kinetic surface roughening of TaN thin films sputtered at different N2/Ar flow ratios

Tantalum nitride (TaN) thin films with different thicknesses were deposited by reactive sputtering technology as a function of N
₂
/Ar flow ratio. Film microstructure was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), and surface roughening was analyzed by atomic force microscopy and dynamic scaling theory. With increasing N
₂
/Ar flow ratio, the film structure changes from polycrystalline to amorphous. With increasing N
₂
/Ar flow ratio, film surface roughness first decreases and then increases, and the evolution of growth exponent ß exhibits the similar behavior. However, the roughness exponent ¿ first increases and then decreases. The influence of microstructure and growth process on kinetic surface roughening of the films was discussed.