Hydrogen Implantation Effects on the Electrical and Optical Properties of Metal Nitride Thin Films

Abstract

Copper and Aluminum Nitride thin films were prepared by the reactive R. F. sputtering method with controlling the N 2 gas content. Their electrical resistivity and optical bandgap energy were varied as the content of N 2 gas during the deposition. For example, the electrical resistivity of the copper nitride thin films increased from 10 −1 to 10 1 m as the nitride approaches to the stoichometric Cu 3 N. To modify the electrical and the optical properties of the nitride thin films, hydrogen was introduced by low energy ion implantation. The electrical resistivity of nearly stoichiometric Cu 3 N thin films decreased from 10 1 to 10 −4 m after hydrogen ion implantation for 30 minutes because this treatment at even 3 keV formed many irradiation defects near the surface of the Cu 3 N thin films. On the other hand, the electrical and the optical properties of insulating AlN thin films were hardly modified with the 7 h implantation. But the electrical resistivity and the optical bandgap energy of the Al rich Al-N thin films could be increased by the hydrogen ion implantation.

Effects of Sputtering Pressure on Cu₃N Thin Films by Reactive Radio Frequency Magnetron Sputtering

“…There is no noticeable variation of lattice constant of Cu 3 N when sputtering pressure changes from 1.0 Pa to 3.0 Pa, which oscillates between 0.38196nm and 0.38524nm. It is noted that the texture direction of Cu 3 N thin films changes from [111] to [100] with the increasing sputtering pressure, which agrees well with previous studies on the effects of nitrogen partial pressure on the texture direction of Cu 3 N films [5,6,9,14]. Besides, Fig.…”