X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS or ESCA), combined with argonion sputter depth profiling, has been employed for the characterization of aluminum, titanium boride, and nitride films deposited by dc-magnetron sputtering from multicomponent alloy targets. The XPS results show that metallic Al, TiB2, and TiN films are formed by this method. However, depth profile results indicated substantial oxide contamination as high as 30 atomic % throughout the bulk of the films. Given the gross oxide contamination, multicomponent alloy target materials appear to be unsuitable for producing high-quality metal/metallic films for applications where electrical conductivity is a critical requirement.
