Investigation of TiN thin film oxidation depending on the substrate temperature at vacuum break

Abstract

Due to the reduction of the thickness of the layers used in the advanced technology nodes, there is a growing importance of the surface phenomena in the definition of the general properties of the materials. One of the least controlled and understood phenomenon is the oxidation of metals after deposition, at the vacuum break. In this study, the influence of the sample temperature at vacuum break on the oxidation level of TiN deposited by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition is investigated. TiN resistivity appears to be lower for samples which underwent vacuum break at high temperature. Using X-ray photoelectron spectrometry analysis, this change is correlated to the higher oxidation of the TiN layer. Moreover, angle resolved XPS analysis reveals that higher is the temperature at the vacuum break, higher is the surface oxidation of the sample. This surface oxidation is in turn limiting the diffusion of oxygen in the volume of the layer. Additionally, evolution of TiN layers resistivity was monitored in time and it shows that resistivity increases until a plateau is reached after about 10 days, with the lowest temperature at vacuum break resulting in the highest increase, i.e., the resistivity of the sample released to atmosphere at high temperature increased by a factor 1.7 whereas the resistivity of the sample cooled down under vacuum temperature increased by a factor 2.7.

Solar Thermoplasmonic Nanofurnace for High-Temperature Heterogeneous Catalysis

“…In order to evaluate the nanofurnace stability, TiN nanofurnaces were tested in CO oxidation after a treatment with an accelerated aging protocol under 15 Suns irradiation and flowing CO and O 2 (Figure S30). The catalytic conversion rate reached 50% of the final value at a light intensity of 8.4 Suns and a temperature of 291 °C, thus showing a partial deactivation with respect to the pristine sample (Figure c) and likely associated with the beginning of TiN oxidation as suggested by XPS analysis (Figure S31). Notably, if the TiN nanofurnaces were treated instead with an accelerated aging protocol under Ar, they showed very minor structural modifications (Figure S31), suggesting their higher stability for reactions performed in reducing conditions such as the challenging and environmentally relevant hydrogenation of carbon dioxide and ammonia synthesis.…”

Optical Properties and Microstructure of TiNxOy and TiN Thin Films before and after Annealing at Different Conditions

“…TiN, the most popular transition metal nitride, has a golden color and is characterized as an extremely hard material, with a high melting point (2950 • C), high thermal and chemical stability at elevated temperatures, and ease to manufacture as compared to TiN x O y [11,12]. Several studies investigated the structure evolution and electrical properties of TiN thin films produced by different deposition parameters [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. Several researchers have suggested [10,[21][22][23][24] that TiN may be used as an absorber layer for high-temperature applications; however, limited work appears in literature on the optical properties of TiN as a selective absorber [21][22][23][24].…”

A Light Soaking Free Solution Processable Metal Oxide Cathode Interfacial Layer Enables High Efficiency in Bulk Heterojunction Polymer Solar Cells

“…The N 1s spectrum of the TUG-TiO 2 was deconvoluted into four peaks (Figure a). The presence of graphene is confirmed by 400.1 and 401.1 eV peaks which correspond to pyrrolic and graphitic N . The N doping effect is confirmed by the binding energy at 397.8 eV, which denotes the N–Ti bond.…”

“…The N 1s spectrum of the TUG-TiO 2 was deconvoluted into four peaks (Figure 3a). The presence of graphene is confirmed by 400.1 and 401.1 eV peaks which correspond to pyrrolic and graphitic N. 36 The N doping effect is confirmed by the binding energy at 397.8 eV, which denotes the N−Ti bond. Besides, the XPS spectrum of the TUG-TiO 2 CIL in the S 2p spectra corresponds to the binding energy at about 161.6 eV, which is designated to Ti−S bonds (replacement of O 2− by S 2+ ), and the peak at 168.1 eV denotes the Ti−O−S bonds (incorporation of S 6+ into the TiO 2 lattice by partial substitution of Ti 4+ ) (Figure 3b).…”