A method for depositing a barrier layer onto a substrate is disclosed. A layer of titanium (Ti) is deposited onto the substrate using an ionized metal plasma (IMP) physical vapor deposition process. The IMP process includes: generating gaseous ions, accelerating the gaseous ions towards a titanium target, sputtering the titanium atoms from the titanium target with the gaseous ions, ionizing the titanium atoms using a plasma, and depositing the ionized titanium atoms onto the substrate to form the layer of Ti. A first layer of titanium nitride (TiN) is deposited onto the layer of Ti using a metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) process. A second layer of TiN is deposited onto the first layer of TiN using a thermal chemical vapor deposition process. The newly completed barrier layer is annealed in the presence of nitrogen at a temperature of between about 500° C. to about 750° C.