Ti0.8Si0.2N films were synthesized by an inductively coupled plasma-assisted magnetron sputtering at deposition temperature lower than 200 degrees C. The effects of the incident ion to Ti+Si flux ratio (0.14 <= J(i)/J(Ti+Si)<= 10), with the ion energy constant at similar to 20 eV, on film growth, microstructure, and morphology were investigated by x-ray diffraction, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and field emission scanning electron microscope. All films have slightly higher than 50 at. % of N content. The film deposited by only magnetron sputtering, with Ji/J(Ti+Si) = 0.14 is amorphous with a columnar structure. With the addition of inductively coupled plasma, the. as-deposited films become crystalline. The preferred orientation evolves from (111) to (200) with the increase in Ji/J(Ti+Si),si. The film grown with Ji/J(Ti+Si) = 10 exhibits a pure (200) preferred orientation with a fine dense-grained globular structure. The lattice constant of this film is about 0.4244 nm, nearly equal to that of monolithic TiN. The binding energy of Si 2p of this film is 101.7 eV, consistent with that of amorphous silicon nitride. The low-temperature growth of a nc-TiN/a-Si3N4 nanocomposite structure is believed to be due to the enhancement of kinetic surface migration induced by high-flux low-energy ion irradiation. (c) 2007 American Vacuum Society.