TiN thin films were deposited on MgO (100) substrates at different substrate temperatures using rf sputtering with Ar/N₂ ratio of about 10. At 700°C, the growth rate of TiN was approximately 0.05 μm/h. The structural and electrical properties of TiN thin films were characterized with x-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Hall measurements. For all deposition conditions, XRD results show that the TiN films can be in an epitaxy with MgO with cube-on-cube orientation relationship of (001)_TiN // (001)_MgO and [100]_TiN // [100]_MgO. TEM with selected-area electron diffraction pattern verifies the epitaxial growth of the TiN films on MgO. SEM and AFM show that the surface of the TiN film is very smooth with roughness approximately 0.26 nm. The minimum resistivity of the films can be as low as 45 μΩ cm.

Ta/TaN bilayers have been deposited by a commercial self‐ionized plasma (SIP) system. The microstructures of Ta/TaN bilayers have been systematically characterized by X‐ray diffraction patterns and cross‐sectional transmission electron microscopy. TaN films deposited by SIP system are amorphous. The crystalline behavior of Ta film can be controlled by the N concentration of underlying TaN film. On amorphous TaN film with low N concentration, overdeposited Ta film is the mixture ofα‐ andβ‐phases with amorphous‐like structure. Increasing the N concentration of amorphous TaN underlayer successfully leads upper Ta film to form pureα‐phase. For the practical application, the electrical property and reliability of Cu interconnection structure have been investigated by utilizing various types of Ta/TaN diffusion barrier. The diffusion barrier fabricated by the combination of crystallizedα‐Ta and TaN with high N concentration efficiently reduces the KRc and improves the EM resistance of Cu interconnection structure.

Epitaxial (100) TiC film deposition on Si (100) substrate by direct current magnetron reactive sputtering of a metallic Ti target with 3%–6% CH₄ in Ar gas was investigated. X-ray diffraction and cross-sectional scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) reveal that epitaxial cubic TiC can be grown on the Si substrate by domain matching epitaxy in 5/4 ratio with the epitaxial relationship of TiC (100)[0 $\overline{1}$ 1] // Si (100)[0 $\overline{1}$ 1]. For sputtering with 3% and 4% CH₄, the deposited films are found to consist of both TiC and metallic Ti phases. Increasing the CH₄ flow ratio to 5% results in a deposited film completely consisting of TiC without metallic Ti phase. The crystallinity of the deposited TiC is also improved with increasing the CH₄ ratio to 5%. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows that the [C]/[Ti] atomic ratio in TiC is nearly close to 1 for growth with 5% CH₄ flow ratio and above. The measured electrical resistivities of the deposited films also increase from 41 to 153 μΩ·cm with increasing the CH₄ ratio from 3% to 6%. With film growth beyond 50 nm thickness, it is shown that some disoriented TiC grains are formed.

In this study, we employed a chemical solution method to grow zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods on SnO₂:F (FTO) substrates as photoelectrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The influence of varying ZnO nanorod dimensions on cell performance was investigated. Specifically, we explored the effects of nanorod length and diameter on dye adsorption capacity and photovoltaic conversion efficiency. Characterization techniques such as electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) were utilized to analyze the ZnO nanorods. Our results demonstrate that the sequential growth technique allows for control over the length and diameter of ZnO nanorods, thereby modulating their optoelectronic properties. XRD and FE-SEM analyses revealed that the surface morphology of the ZnO nanorods impacts dye adsorption capacity and photovoltaic conversion efficiency. EIS measurements further indicated a significant influence of dye adsorption on the electron lifetime of ZnO nanorods. Overall, this study highlights the potential of multi-step growth of ZnO nanorods to optimize the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells by tuning their morphology and surface properties.