Deposition of TiN and TaN by Remote Plasma ALD for Diffusion Barrier Applications

Abstract

TaN and TiN films were deposited by remote plasma atomic layer deposition (ALD) using the combinations of Ta(N(CH[sub]3[/sub])[sub]2[/sub])[sub]5[/sub] precursor and H[sub]2[/sub] plasma and TiCl[sub]4[/sub] precursor and H[sub]2[/sub]-N[sub]2[/sub] plasma, respectively. Both the TaN and TiN films had a cubic phase composition and films with a relatively low resistivity (TaN: 380 µΩ cm; TiN: 150 µΩ cm) were obtained. Dissimilar from the TiN properties, the material properties of the TaN films were found to depend strongly on the plasma conditions. Preliminary tests were carried out revealing the potential of the TaN and TiN films as copper and lithium diffusion barriers.