The Characterization of Titanium Nitride by XPS and RBS.

XPS spectra have been taken on TiN sub x with x = 0.24, 0.50 and 1.0 as determined by RBS analyses, and with no detectable oxygen content. TiN sub (1.0) samples with varying oxygen content were also examined. We find the shake-up satellite structure in the Ti2p transition to be strongly dependent upon the nitrogen content, while the oxygen content of TiN simply serves to increase the inelastic scattering of the photoelectrons. Atom ratios Ti/N cannot be accurately determined by XPS without standardization. The binding energy of the Ti2p3/2 transition occurs at 454. 5 eV and the N1s transition occurs at 396.7 eV. Oxygen is most likely bound to Ti as TiO, since it is not present as TiO sub 2. Valence band measurements agree well with previous reports, and we find no evidence for oxynitrides of titanium.