Direct-Liquid-Injection Chemical Vapor Deposition of Nickel Nitride Films and Their Reduction to Nickel Films

Abstract

Smooth and continuous films of nickel nitride (NiN x ) with excellent step coverage were deposited from a novel nickel amidinate precursor, Ni(MeC(N t Bu)2)2, and either ammonia (NH3) or a mixture of NH3 and hydrogen (H2) gases as co-reactants. The reactants were injected together in direct-liquid-injection chemical vapor deposition (DLI-CVD) processes at substrate temperatures of 160−200 °C. Depending on the ratio of NH3 to H2 gases during deposition, the Ni:N atomic ratio in DLI-CVD NiN x films could be varied from ∼3:1 to ∼15:1, having either a cubic nickel structure or a mixture of hexagonal Ni3N and cubic Ni4N crystal structures with an incorporation of nitrogen as low as 6%. The chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth rates of NiN x could be increased to more than 5 nm/min. The CVD films were smooth and continuous, and they had ∼100% step coverage in high-aspect-ratio (>50:1) holes. The as-deposited NiN x films had resistivities as low as ∼50 μΩ cm for film thicknesses of ∼25 nm. Annealing of the films in H2 at 160 °C or hydrogen plasma treatment at room temperature removed the nitrogen and led to pure nickel films.

Structural and magnetic properties of NiCxand NiNx(x=0toFang1, Sluiter2, Huis3 et al. 2012Phys. Rev. B

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] In recent years, much attention has been paid to different Ni 3 X materials, such as nanosized crystallites [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] and thin films. 11,12 Ni 3 N samples were first prepared by means of nitridation of Ni metal using ammonia.…”

Multistep inorganic synthesis of thin films

“…From a reliability viewpoint, the soft cushion would reduce the mechanical damage on the spray nozzle cased by the sealing rod. Again, to achieve uniform spray patterns through the drying process, we can choice or mix high-boilingpoint solvents, for example, solvents used in direct-liquidinjection/ evaporation chemical vapor deposition [18] and set temperatures of the chamber and the sample holder lower than the boiling points. Finally, to recover a vacuum condition for the subsequent ALD process after the APD 2 process, we can trap the vaporized solvents with a cold trap at the downstream before the vacuum pump.…”

Growth of Atomically Smooth Epitaxial Nickel Ferrite Films by Direct Liquid Injection CVD

“…[26] The DLI technique, which can generate vapor from a liquid solution source at relatively low temperatures (<200 8C), has in recent years been successfully utilized for a number of metal-organic (MO)CVD processes. [27][28][29] DLI-CVD is a particularly useful method for multicomponent systems as several precursors can be dissolved in the same solution and the relative delivery rates of precursors are defined by the solution composition. There are only a couple of reports in the literature on DLI-CVD of nickel ferrite, e.g., using metal thd (thd ¼ 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-3,5-heptanedionato) precursors.…”