The main purpose of the present microstructural analysis by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction was to investigate whether amorphous TaN films are a potential candidate as diffusion barrier for Cu wiring used in Si devices. The TaN thin films were prepared by a sputter-deposition technique using Ar and N-2 mixed gas, and the film structure was found to be sensitive to the gas flow ratio of N-2 vs. Ar during sputtering. Polycrystalline TaN films were obtained when the N-2/(Ar+ N2) ratio was smaller than 0.10 and amorphous TaN films were obtained when the ratio was larger than 0.15. Cross-sectional TEM observations revealed that the amorphous films had columnar structure with fine grains and that nano-scaled voids segregated at the boundaries. In addition, two-layered structures were observed in the amorphous TaN films and high density of the grain boundaries was formed close to the substrate. The present results suggested that the amorphous TaN films would not have high resistance against interdiffusion between two different materials because the density of grain boundaries with small voids was extremely high. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.