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The wet oxidation of magnetron-sputtered x-ray-amorphous Ti34Si23N43 films at temperatures from 500 to 1000 °C and ambient pressure was investigated by backscattering spectrometry, x-ray diffraction analysis, and step profilometry. Up to 800 °C, the oxidation yields x-ray-amorphous oxide scales of atomic composition Ti20Si13O67. At 500 and 550 °C the oxide growth kinetics is parabolic. At 700 and 800 °C, the oxidation kinetics is well described by a logarithmic time dependence. At 1000 °C, the oxide scale has a layered structure with a crystalline TiO2 layer on top of Ti–Si–O.

Backscattering spectrometry, x-ray diffractometry, and scanning electron microscopy have been used to study the reaction of a thin Pt film with an epilayer of ͗110͘ GaN on ͗110͘ sapphire upon annealing at 450, 550, 650, 750, and 800°C for 30 min. A Ga concentration of 2 at. % is detected by MeV 4 He ϩϩ backscattering spectrometry in the Pt layer at 550°C. By x-ray diffraction, structural changes are observed already at 450°C. At 650°C, textured Ga 2 Pt appears as reaction product. The surface morphology exhibits instabilities by the formation of blisters at 650°C and voids at 800°C.

Effect of O 2 flow ratio on the microstructure and stress of room temperature reactively sputtered RuO x thin films J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 23, 452 (2005); 10.1116/1.1875272The 1.54 μ m photoluminescence from an (Er, Ge) co-doped Si O 2 film deposited on Si by rf magnetron sputtering Appl.Films of Ru-Si-O were synthesized by reactively sputtering a Ru 1 Si 1 target in an Ar/O 2 gas mixture. They were characterized in terms of their composition by 2.0 MeV 4 He ϩϩ backscattering spectrometry, their atomic density by thickness measurements combined with backscattering data, their microstructure by x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy, and their electrical resistivity by four-point-probe measurements. The compositions indicate preferential sputtering with ruthenium enrichment of the films, and a saturation level of oxygen is determined at 67 at. % corresponding to the formation of SiO 2 and RuO 2 . X-ray diffraction spectra reveal an amorphous structure for oxygen-saturated and nanocrystals for unsaturated as-deposited films. The crystallization temperature clearly increases with the oxygen concentration of the films, from 500°C for oxygen-free films to 1000°C for oxygen-saturated films, when annealed in vacuum for 30 min. Transmission electron micrographs of as-deposited oxygen-saturated films show few nanocrystals of 1-2 nm in diameter in an otherwise amorphous matrix. The atomic density is roughly 8ϫ10 22 atom/cm 3 for all compositions. The resistivity of the ternary alloys scales with the terminal phases in the ternary phase diagram and reaches a maximum value when the Ru-SiO 2 tie line is crossed near 50 at. % oxygen. The films are stable in vacuum up to thermal stressing at 800°C for 5 h, and their decomposition starts near 1000°C.