Comparison of in situ and ex situ plasma-treated metalorganic chemical vapor deposition titanium nitride thin films

Abstract

Articles you may be interested inRemote plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition of TiN thin films using metalorganic precursor J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 22, 8 (2004); 10.1116/1.1624285 Plasma induced microstructural, compositional, and resistivity changes in ultrathin chemical vapor deposited titanium nitride filmsIn situ physical vapor deposition of ionized Ti and TiN thin films using hollow cathode magnetron plasma source Hydrogen plasma pretreatment effect on the deposition of aluminum thin films from metalorganic chemical vapor deposition using dimethylethylamine alane Titanium nitride ͑TiN͒ thin films deposited by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition, using tetrakis-dimethyl-amino-titanium as a precursor, are known to have high sheet resistivity. A plasma treatment in forming gas ambient is one way of reducing the high sheet resistivity down to that of the films deposited by physical vapor deposition. This plasma treatment is normally done in situ ͑without breaking the vacuum͒ immediately after deposition. However, an ex situ ͑breaking vacuum after deposition͒ plasma treatment will provide a more economical way of manufacturing in which less time is required in the chemical vapor deposition chamber, hence allowing high deposition throughput. Furthermore, the plasma treatment can be done in a high-pressure chamber, which translates into low cost. In this study, we compared film properties of TiN with in situ and ex situ plasma treatments. Analyses were performed on chemical composition, sheet resistance, amount of Ti atoms, via resistance and reliability using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, four-point probe, x-ray fluorescence, and a current-voltage multiprobe. The ex situ plasma treatment was capable of removing carbon from the TiN film, but not without a sacrifice of the reliability and electrical performance of the TiN film. Further development on the ex situ plasma treatment must be made to improve the reliability and electrical performance of the TiN film.

Deposition of magnesium nitride thin films on stainless steel-304 substrates by using a plasma focus device

“…Various deposition techniques have been studied for production of metal nitride thin films [12][13][14][15][16]. During the recent decades, the dense plasma focus (DPF) device [17,18] has been used for many applications such as generation of energetic ions, neutrons, X-rays and relativistic electrons [19] and deposition of thin films [20][21][22].…”

Plasma over-treatment effect on the MOCVD-TiN contact glue layer

“…Since the electrical properties of MOCVD-TiN films are highly plasma-treatment sensitive, many researching have tried to understand the role of plasma post-treatment in MOCVD-TiN deposition [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. However, most prior researcher has focused on the composition, resistivity change, and barrier property of blanket films but not on the electrical properties of patterned wafers.…”

“…However, a large amount of carbon (C) and hydrogen impurities from TDMAT causes asdeposited TiN films to have high resistivity and large variation of film properties upon air exposure [17]. In order to improve the electrical properties of MOCVD-TiN films, an in-situ plasma treatment using a hydrogen (H 2 )/nitrogen (N 2 ) gas mixture is commonly employed to lower the level of C impurities and to form a crystallized TiN film [4][5][6][7][8][9]. The H 2 plasma is considered to have chemical reactivity that reduces C impurities while the N 2 plasma is believed to have a physical dominant reaction between activated nitrogen species and MOCVDTiN films [7][8][9][10][11].…”

“…For sub-130 nm silicon integrated circuits, the step coverage and the film quality of glue layers is critical for the optimization of contact resistance (R c ). In general, the Ti and TiN films are deposited by ionized-metal-plasma (IMP) and metallorganic CVD (MOCVD), respectively, to improve the step coverage in high-aspect-ratio features [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. In the MOCVD-TiN deposition, tetrakisdimethylaminotitanium (TDMAT) is typically used as a precursor to obtain chloride-free TiN films [1,2].…”

Investigation of Effective Parameters on Metal Nitride Deposition by Plasma Focus Device: Number of Shots and Substrate Axial and Angular Positions

“…turbine blades) and microelectronics (diffusion barriers in semiconductor technology [20][21][22]). Due to these unique properties, during the recent decades various deposition techniques have been used for the formation of transition metal nitrides thin films [23][24][25][26].…”