Epitaxial Growth of Titanium Nitride Films On (100) Silicon Three-Dimensional Heterostructures: Processing and Characterization

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe have shown that epitaxial films can be grown on highly lattice mismatch systems by domain epitaxial growth. For titanium nitride films on (100) silicon substrates, it is shown that epitaxial growth can occur by Matching M TiN = n asi, where M and n are simple integers with values of 4 and 3 respectively, giving rise to less than 4.0% Misfit. We have investigated the formation of epitaxial titanium nitride films grown on (100) Si by pulsed laser (KrF: λ = 248 nm, τ = 25 ns) physical vapor deposition technique at different substrate temperatures, ranging from 200°C to 600°C. After optimizing the deposition conditions for epitaxial TiN film on Si, we have grown epitaxial silicon film on TiN. The epitaxial relationship was found to be <100> Si ∥ <100> TiN π <100> Si. This semiconductor-Metal-semiconductor device configuration has potential applications in three-dimensional integrated circuits and radiation hardened devices. The success of this technology is predicted on our understanding of: (a) defects at interfaces of Si/TiN/Si, and (b) stresses/strains at interfaces. This paper focuses on the nature of epitaxial growth and analyzes the atomic structures of defects at Si/TiN/Si interfaces using high resolution transmission electron Microscopy (HRTEM). These results are correlated with the results from theoretical modeling of Si/TiN/Si heterostructures.