INFLUENCE OF THE RATIO OF GASE CONSUMPTION N₂/Ar AND MAGNETRON POWER ON THE DENSITY AND STOICHIOMETRIC COMPOSITION OF TIN_X FILMS SYNTHESIZED BY MAGNETRON SPUTTERING METHOD

The films of titanium nitride were deposited by direct current magnetron sputtering on the surface of singlecrystalline silicon samples in an Ar-N₂  atmosphere for use as a diffusion barrier. The thickness and density of films were measured by X-ray reflectometry. The design of the MAGNA TM-200-01 installation has been changed to increase the supply of nitrogen into the chamber. The influences of sputtering conditions, including the flow rate of nitrogen and argon gases and their N₂ /Ar ratios in the range of 1–60 in the chamber, magnetron power of 690–1400 W on the formation of TiN_x  films, their density and stoichiometric composition, were studied. It is shown that the value of x is affected not only by the N₂ /Ar gas flow rate ratio, but also by the magnetron power. At the sputtering parameters 1200 W, N₂ /Ar = 30, 0.8 Pa, 320 s and 100°C, a maximum density of 5.247 g/cm³  of a film was achieved, which corresponds to the composition TiN_0.786 = Ti₅₆N₄₄. The presence of nanocrystalline film of titanium nitride and the absence of a nanocrystalline titanium phase were confirmed by photographic X-ray diffraction. It was found that for the synthesis of titanium nitride as close as possible to the stoichiometric composition TiN_0.770 - TiN_0.786, it is necessary to use magnetron power in the range of 900–1200 W, nitrogen rate of 30 cm³ /min with low argon flows of 1–5 cm³ /min.

1. Petrov I., Hultman L., Helmersson U., Sundgren J.E., Greene J.E. Thin Solid Film., 1989, vol. 169, pp. 299–314. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/004060908990713X.

2. Arshi N., Lu J., Joo Y.K., Lee C.G., Yoon J.H., Ahmed F. Mater. Chem. Phys., 2012, vol. 134, pp. 839–844. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0254058412003288.

3. Istratov A.A. and Weber E. R. J Electrochem Soc, 2002, vol. 149, no. 1, p. G21. http://doi.org/10.1149/1.1421348.

4. Aljaafari A., Ahmed F., Shaalan N.M., Kumar S. and Alsulami A. Inorganics, 2023, vol.11, no. 5, p. 204. https://doi.org/10.3390/inorganics11050204.

5. Veprek S., Veprek-Heijman M.G., Karvankova P., Prochazka J. Thin Solid Film, 2005, vol. 476, pp. 1–29.

6. Kadlec S., Musil J., Vyskcil J., Surface and Coatings Technolgy, 1992, vol. 54–55 (16 November 1992), pp. 287–296. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0257-8972(09)90064-0.

7. Jiang F., Zhang T.F., Wu B.H., Surface and Coatings Technolgy, 2016, vol. 292, pp. 54–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.surfcoat.2016.03.007.

8. Niyomsoan S., Grant W., Olson D.L., Mishra B. Thin Solid Films, 2002, vol. 415, pp. 187–194. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0040-6090(02)00530-8.

9. Patsalas P., Charitidis C., Logothetidis S., Dimitriadis C.A., Valassiades O.J. Appl. Physic, 1999, vol.86, pp. 5296–5298. https://pubs.aip.org/aip/jap/article-abstract/86/9/5296/289131/Combined-electrical-andmechanical-properties-of?redirectedFrom=fulltext.

10. Banerjee R., Chandra R., Ayyub P. Thin Solid Films, 2002, vol. 405, pp. 64–72. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0040609001017059.

11. Kavitha A., Kannan R., Gunasekhar K.R. Journal of Electronic Materials, 2017, vol.7, pp. 1–8. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11664-017-5608-4.

12. Gu P., Zhu X., Li J., Wu H., Yang D. Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics, 2018, vol. 29, pp. 9893–9900. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-018-9031-2.

13. Fillot F., Morel T., Minoret S., Matko I., Maıˆtrejean S., Guillaumot B., Chenevier B., and Billon T. Microelectron. Eng., 2005, vol. 82, pp. 248–253. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167931705003485.

14. Echtermeyer T., Gottlob H.D.B., Wahlbrink T., Mollenhauer T., Schmidt M., Efavi J.K., Lemme M.C., and Kurz H. Solid State Electron, 2007, vol. 51, pp. 617–621. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0038110107000640.

15. Lee Y.J. Mater. Lett., 2005, vol. 59, pp. 615–617. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167577X04007347.

16. Yoon D.S., Roh J.S., Lee S.M., and Baik H.K. J. Electron. Mater., 2003, vol.32, pp. 890–898. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11664-003-0206-z.

17. Park D.G., Lim K.Y., Cho H.J., Cha T.H., Yeo I.S., Roh J.S., and Park J.W. Appl. Phys. Lett., 2002, vol. 80, pp. 2514–2516. https://pubs.aip.org/aip/apl/article-abstract/80/14/2514/514810/Impact-of-atomiclayer-deposited-TiN-on-the-gate?redirectedFrom=fulltext.

18. Yang X., Liu W., Bastiani M. De, Allen T., Kang J., Xu H., Aydin E., Xu L., Bi Q., Dang H., AlHabshi E., Kotsovos K., AlSaggaf A., Gereige I., Wan Y., Peng J., Samundsett C., Cuevas A., Wolf S. De, Joule 3, 2019, pp. 1314–1327. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2019.03.008.

19. Kern W. The Evolution of Silicon Wafer Cleaning Technology. Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 1990, vol. 137, no. 6, pp. 1887–1892. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1149/1.2086825.

20. Touryanski A.G., Vinogradov A.V., and Pirshin I.V. X-ray reflectometer. US Patent No. 6041098, 2000. https://patents.google.com/patent/US6041098A/en.

21. Henke B.L., Gullikson E.M., J Davis. C. In: Atomic Data and Nuclear. Data Tables 54, 2, 1993, 181 p. http://henke.lbl.gov/optical_constants/.