Abstract
Using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high-resolution x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy with the synchrotron radiation we investigated Si-based micro-clusters embedded in TaSiN thin films having oxygen contamination. TaSiN thin films were deposited by co-sputtering on fixed or rotated substrates and with various power conditions of TaN and Si targets. Three types of embedded micro-clusters with the chemical states of pure Si, SiOx-capped Si, and SiO2-capped Si were observed and analyzed using SEM and Si 2p and Ta 4f core-level spectra were derived. Their different resistivities are presumably due to the different chemical states and densities of Si-based micro-clusters.
Highlights
Phase-change materials have become highly promising for use in rewritable optical media and non-volatile random access memory devices (PRAM).[1,2,3,4] These materials manifest extreme changes in both optical reflectivity and electrical resistance during amorphous-tocrystalline phase-changes at 100 ∼ 400◦ C.4 Samsung Electronics Co
Using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high-resolution x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy with the synchrotron radiation we investigated Si-based micro-clusters embedded in TaSiN thin films having oxygen contamination
Three types of embedded micro-clusters with the chemical states of pure Si, SiOx-capped Si, and SiO2-capped Si were observed and analyzed using SEM and Si 2p and Ta 4 f core-level spectra were derived. Their different resistivities are presumably due to the different chemical states and densities of Si-based micro-clusters
Summary
Phase-change materials have become highly promising for use in rewritable optical media and non-volatile random access memory devices (PRAM).[1,2,3,4] These materials manifest extreme changes in both optical reflectivity and electrical resistance during amorphous-tocrystalline phase-changes at 100 ∼ 400◦ C.4 Samsung Electronics Co. For an electrode material with this resistivity, TaN might be a good choice because it is used in various applications as a diffusion barrier and a stable resistor by virtue of its thermal stability.[6,7] To control its resistivity, several groups have studied TaSiN, and it showed improvement in its resistivity stability.[8,9,10,11,12] In our previous study, we found that TaxSiyNz materials with various Si concentrations could improve the power of SET and RESET processes in PRAM devices.[8] TaSiN material does not fully understand chemical states and intrinsic structure between TaN and Si elements. To control the properties of TaSiN material with different Si concentrations, it is essential to know its intrinsic structure In this manuscript, we fabricated TaSiN thin films on SiO2/Si substrates and determined their chemical states and intrinsic structures by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high-resolution x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HRXPS) with the synchrotron radiation.
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