The initial stages of the oxidation of titanium nitride

During the study of the oxidation of titanium nitride, we previously identified an initiation period during which oxidation proceeded much more slowly than after the initiation period. In the present work, we measure the kinetics of oxidation during these initial stages. The film growth during this period is roughly an order of magnitude slower than during the ‘‘normal’’ oxidation. No correlation was observed between the amount of oxygen in the bulk of the TiN and the oxidation time/temperature. The film growth kinetics are parabolic with an activation energy of 38.6 kcal/mol.

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