Atomic layer deposition (ALD) of titanium nitride, TiN, from the reaction of Ti[N(CH 3 ) 2 ] 4 and NH 3 on silicon dioxide, and silicon dioxide modified by interfacial organic layers with different structures (straight-chain vs branched) and functional terminations (-OH, -NH 2 , and -CH 3 ), has been investigated employing molecular beam techniques, atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). We find that the interfacial organic layers have a profound effect on subsequent growth of TiN via ALD. For organic layers possessing unreactive end groups (-CH 3 ), the initial rate of growth (thickness deposited per cycle) is strongly attenuated, and growth on these surfaces is 3-D and severely islanded, emanating from defects in the adlayer. Roughness builds quickest on the organic layers that are the thickest. For organic layers that possess reactive end groups (-NH 2 and -OH), growth is also attenuated, but less so, and the degree of attenuation is essentially independent of the layer thickness and structure. The dependence of the attenuation on the substrate temperature (decreased at higher values) suggests that some degradation of the interfacial layer may occur in these cases, where fragments of the decomposition reaction-(s) are retained at the surface, leading to attenuation of the rate of deposition. Results from AFM suggest that even on these reactive surfaces growth is not fully 2-D, but involves initially the formation of a high density of small islands. High-resolution STEM did show that the films that were eventually formed are continuous and very conformal. Finally, we find an excellent correlation between the saturation density of adsorbed Ti species and the degree of attenuation of the initial rate of deposition.

We have investigated the reaction of tetrakis(dimethylamido)titanium, Ti[N(CH(3))(2)](4), with N-isopropyl-N-[4-(thien-3-ylethynyl) phenyl] amine and N-isopropyl-N-(4-{[4-(thien-3-ylethynyl) phenyl]ethynyl}phenyl) amine self-assembled monolayers (SAMs), on polycrystalline Au substrates. The structure of the SAMs themselves has also been investigated. Both molecules form SAMs on polycrystalline Au bound by the thiophene group. The longer-molecular-backbone molecule forms a denser SAM, with molecules characterized by a smaller tilt angle. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and angle-resolved XPS have been employed to examine the kinetics of adsorption, the spatial extent of reaction, and the stoichiometry of reaction. For both the SAMs, adsorption is described well by first-order Langmuirian kinetics, and adsorption is self-limiting from T(s) = -50 to 30 degrees C. The use of angle-resolved XPS clearly demonstrates that the Ti[N(CH(3))(2)](4) reacts exclusively with the isopropylamine end group via ligand exchange, and there is no penetration of the SAM, followed by reaction at the SAM-Au interface. Moreover, the SAM molecules remain bound to the Au surface via their thiopene functionalites. From XPS, we have found that, in both cases, approximately one Ti[N(CH(3))(2)](4) is adsorbed per two SAM molecules.

An in-situ heavily phosphorous doped selective epitaxial Si:P process was developed to reduce the source/drain contact resistance in the scaled-down 2D and 3D nMOSFET devices. The phosphorous concentration in as-deposited Si:P epitaxial films is >1×10 21 at/cc. Most of phosphorous atoms contribute to the in-film tensile strain that is comparable to Si:CP epitaxial film (with >1 at% C sub ) for nMOSFETs. High-resolution XRD data and cross sectional TEM images demonstrated high quality epitaxial Si:P film grown on differently orientated substrates and planar/fin structures. Furthermore, phosphorous atoms in Si:P films can be highly activated, resulting in a low resistivity of ~0.3 mOhm-cm, by the milli-second anneal treatment without the loss of phosphorous concentration and tensile strain.

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) of titanium nitride (TiN) on silicon dioxide and silicon dioxide modified by self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) with different structures and functional terminations has been investigated employing molecular beam techniques. On the –CH3 terminated SAMs, growth is significantly attenuated over that observed on clean SiO2, more than an order of magnitude for the thicker SAMs, and involves islanded, nonuniform growth. ALD is also observed on SAMs with reactive end groups, –OH and –NH2, but growth is uniform and attenuated only by approximately a factor of 3, independent of the thickness of these SAMs.

For the first time, embedded Si:C (eSi:C) was demonstrated to be a superior nMOSFET stressor compared to SMT or tensile liner (TL) stressors. eSi:C nMOSFET showed higher channel mobility and drive current over our best poly-gate 45nm-node nMOSFET with SMT and tensile liner stressors. In addition, eSi:C showed better scalability than SMT plus tensile liner stressors from 380nm to 190nm poly-pitches.