Effect of N2 flow rate on the crystallization and electrical performance of AlN films prepared by medium frequency magnetron sputtering

Abstract

Aluminum nitride film is used as the insulator in semiconductor devices, and the low leakage current density plays an important role in their performance and reliability. In this work, a system of aluminum nitride films was fabricated by medium frequency magnetron sputtering on the P (100) Si and their composition, crystalline phase, surface topography as well as electrical properties were investigated. N2 flow rate manipulates the sputtering mode and therefore becomes an effective way to modulate the deposition rate, composition and crystallization behavior of the AlN films. The films deposited at 10.0 sccm exhibits excellent leakage current density of 6.08 × 10−7 A/cm2 at 1MV/cm, which indicates that the film is a promising candidate for insulator applications. At low electric field (E < 0.3 MV/cm), the leakage current is dominated by ohmic behavior, while for high electric field, the leakage current is controlled by Poole–Frenkel mechanism.