Amorphous tantalum-silicon-nitrogen films of about 500 nm thickness were, reactively, sputter deposited onto (100)Si substrate using d.c. magnetron sputtering from TaSi0.1, TaSi0.4, and TaSi0.6 target materials. The film properties were characterized by using sheet resistance measurements and X-ray diffraction. With increasing amounts of nitrogen in the sputtering gas, the resistivity of the film increased. The erosion surface of the multiphase target material was analyzed with SEM. Particulate emission is minimized with increasing density and refined microstructure of the target material.