Hydrogen-Assisted Sputtering Growth of TiN on Ceramic Substrates

Abstract

Titanium nitride (TiN) has mechanical and electrical characteristics applicable for very large scale integration (VLSI) and discrete electronic devices. This study assessed the effect of hydrogen on sputtering growth of TiN on ceramic substrates. Although ceramic substrate is used in discrete device applications due to its insulating property, ceramic is also porous and contains oxygen and water vapor gases, which can be incorporated into TiN films during growth. In addition, discrete devices are usually packaged in glass sealing at 700 °C, and reaction with the trapped gases can significantly degrade the quality of the TiN film. In order to evaluate ways to minimize the effects of these gases on TiN, hydrogen gas was introduced during sputtering growth. The main hypothesis was that the hydrogen gas would react with oxygen to lower the oxygen density in the vacuum chamber, which would suppress the effects of the trapped gases in the ceramic and ultimately improve the quality of the TiN film. Improvements in TiN quality were confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and resistance measurements. During the glass-sealing process, N2-purging at 400 °C was effective at keeping the TiN in a low resistance state. These results show that introducing hydrogen gas during sputtering growth could solve the problems caused by ceramic substrates.

Achieving ultra‐low friction of a‐C:H film grown on 9Cr18Mo steel for industrial application via programmable high power pulse magnetron sputtering

“…The XRD pattern is shown in Figure 2C; here, a‐C:H(Si) film represent the a‐C:H(9Cr18Mo) film for testing since other elements in 9Cr18Mo blocks will interfere with the diffraction signal of transition layers. The peak at 35° (2θ) is consistent with the (111) plane of the cubic TiCN 32 and the broad peak at 42° (2θ) agree well with TiN(111) and TiC(111) 33 ; besides, the peak at 69° (2θ) match with Ti(110) (jade software peak comparison, PDF22004). All the other peaks are corresponding to the diffraction peaks of the silicon substrate (jade software peak comparison, PDF22004).…”

Tunable Plasmonic Resonances in TiN Nanorod Arrays

“…For samples TiN 0V 1.2sccm , TiN 50V 1.2sccm , and TiN 100V 1.2sccm , the concentration of N decreases with increasing negative bias voltage. This phenomenon is due to the following [24,25]. Increasing negative bias voltage enhances the bombarding energy of the Ar + ions on the substrate.…”

Study of the Optoelectronic Properties of Titanium Nitride Thin Films Deposited on Glass by Reactive Sputtering in the Cathodic Cage

“…TiN thin films have been widely studied in recent decades, given their importance and applicability in several commercial areas due to the combination of their mechanical properties -high melting point, hardness, corrosion resistance -and optoelectronic properties, which derive from the metallic behavior of free electrons existing in the d-band of Ti. TiN can also be applied as a heat mirror, as it is very stable when subjected to high temperatures and highly reflective in the near-infrared region 7,[10][11][12] .…”