# Independent control of the thermoelectric parameters in titanium nitride thin films via crystal preferred orientation control using the combinatorial sputter coating

https://mdr.nims.go.jp/datasets/fe4356af-a63b-4031-97df-8c5aca36cae0

## File

- [TiN_DPS_JJAP_v2_02262026-B3.pdf](https://mdr.nims.go.jp/filesets/bef0f479-02ce-4fde-8a8d-b41772a9c578/download) ([Detail](https://mdr.nims.go.jp/filesets/bef0f479-02ce-4fde-8a8d-b41772a9c578.md))

## Id

fe4356af-a63b-4031-97df-8c5aca36cae0

## Local identifier



## Visibility

open_to_public

## State

published

## Created at

2026-09-02T00:35:58.833637Z

## Updated at

2026-09-03T05:04:22.686864Z

## Published at

2026-09-03T07:28:52.252548Z

## Doi

https://doi.org/10.48505/nims.6501

## First published url

https://doi.org/10.35848/1347-4065/ae5197

## Date published

2026-04-17

## Recorded date published

2026-4-17

## Resource type

journal_article

## Manuscript type

authors_original

## Collection



## Title

- title: Independent control of the thermoelectric parameters in titanium nitride
    thin films via crystal preferred orientation control using the combinatorial sputter
    coating
  title_type: original
  lang: en

## Description

- description: This study investigates the influence of deposition conditions on the
    thermoelectric properties of titanium nitride (TiN) thin films by systematically
    controlling the Ar/N? gas mixing ratio during combinatorial reactive sputtering.
    Although the chemical composition of the films remained nearly constant except
    under nitrogen-free conditions, significant variations were observed in crystallographic
    orientation, grain growth, electrical resistivity, thermal conductivity, and thermoelectric
    performance. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed two distinct orientation transitions
    with inflection points around nitrogen fractions of approximately 70% and 40%.
    The Seebeck coefficient increased almost linearly as the nitrogen fraction decreased
    and showed only a weak dependence on crystallographic orientation. In contrast,
    electrical resistivity strongly correlated with orientation-dependent XRD peak
    intensity changes, indicating that crystal orientation is a dominant factor governing
    carrier transport. This behavior partially decoupled the conventional trade-off
    between the Seebeck coefficient and electrical resistivity, allowing optimization
    of the power factor without significant compositional modification. Thermal conductivity
    also exhibited strong orientation dependence, suggesting that phonon transport
    is affected by grain structure and interface density. As a result, a maximum thermoelectric
    figure of merit (zT) of 0.025 was achieved. Although this value is still insufficient
    for practical thermoelectric applications, the study demonstrates that crystallographic
    orientation and microstructural engineering provide an effective strategy for
    independently tuning thermoelectric parameters in TiN thin films. The proposed
    deposition-process optimization is expected to serve as a useful design guideline
    for improving the performance of nitride-based thermoelectric materials, including
    more promising systems such as ScN and CrN.
  description_type: abstract
  lang: und

## Creator

- name: Michiko Sasaki
  role: author
  orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2336-5788
  organization: National Institute for Materials Science
- name: Yibin Xu
  role: author
  orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8600-8748
  organization: National Institute for Materials Science
- name: Takao Mori
  role: author
  orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2682-1846
  organization: National Institute for Materials Science
- name: Masahiro Goto
  role: author
  orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1003-2781
  organization: National Institute for Materials Science

## Contact agent



## Publisher

organization: IOP Publishing

## Managing organization



## Keyword

- subject: Thermoelectric
  schema: not_defined
- subject: titanium nitride
  schema: not_defined
- subject: thin film
  schema: not_defined
- subject: crystal orientation
  schema: not_defined
- subject: combinatorial sputter
  schema: not_defined
- subject: sputter
  schema: not_defined
- subject: TiN
  schema: not_defined

## Rights

- description: This is the version of the article before peer review or editing, as
    submitted by an author to Japanese Journal of Applied Physics.  IOP Publishing
    Ltd is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript
    or any version derived from it.  The Version of Record is available online at
    https://doi.org/10.35848/1347-4065/ae5197
  identifier: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

## Other identifier(s)



## Data origin

- data_origin_type: other

## Embargo



## Journal

- title: Japanese Journal of Applied Physics
  issn: '13474065'
  volume: '65'
  issue: '7'
  article_number: 07SP32

## Conference



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## Instrument



## Instrument operator



## Instrument managing organization



## Measurement method



## Specimen



## Chemical composition



## Structure for specimen



## Structural feature for specimen



## Specific property for specimen



## Process for specimen treatment



## Computational method



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## Fileset

- id: bef0f479-02ce-4fde-8a8d-b41772a9c578
  filename: TiN_DPS_JJAP_v2_02262026-B3.pdf
  content_type: application/pdf
  size: 935407
  md5: 7569fd8bf1ce019b055bffe49d2dec30

## Thumbnail

fileset_id: bef0f479-02ce-4fde-8a8d-b41772a9c578
filename: TiN_DPS_JJAP_v2_02262026-B3.pdf