Titanium nitride (TiN) films were deposited onto silicon wafers using an ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) method with an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion source for ionizing the nitrogen (N-2) gas under a condition of high nitrogen ion to titanium neutral ratio. The deposition rate of the TiN films was strongly dependent on the evaporation rate, d(Ti), of Ti metal and decreased with increasing nitrogen ion current. The deposition rate can be approximated as d=betad(Ti)phi(N2)/{1/k+phi(N2)}-alphaI, where beta, k and alpha are proportional constants, phi(N2) is the sum rate of neutral and ionized nitrogen impinging onto the substrate, and I is the nitrogen ion current. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.