Abstract
Ti-Si-N films were characterized as a nanocomposite consisting of cubic titanium nitride (TiN) nanocrystallites embedded in an amorphous matrix of silicon nitride (Si3N4). Ti-Si-N films have been used as anti-wear coatings due to their mechanical properties and diffusion barriers for copper metallization in semiconductor processing. The surface of Ti-Si-N is so rough that it is hard to characterize its nanostructure with an atomic force microscope (AFM). Therefore, the Ti-Si-N surface should be polished and smoothened to reduce its roughness before an AFM study. In this study, we investigated a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process for preparing Ti-Si-N surfaces for an AFM study on the Ti-Si-N nanostructure by using two different types of CMP slurries. Then a characterization of TiN embedded in a Si3N4 matrix was conducted by using a tapping mode AFM and phase shift imaging.
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