Description

The goal of this work was to synthesize refractory
materials like TiN, Ta and alloys of TiN-TaN in the
form of thin films which are used as diffusion
barriers in integrated circuits to prevent diffusion
of Cu into the Si substrate. The primary emphasis
of this research was to synthesize different
microstructures of these films like amorphous,
nanocrystalline, textured polycrystalline and single
crystalline films, and to study the effect of these
microstructures on their mechanical and electrical
properties and on diffusion characteristics of Cu.
Microstructures ranging from nanocrystalline to
single crystalline TiN films on Si(100) substrates
were synthesized by Pulsed Laser Deposition
technique by varying the substrate temperature from
25°C to 650°C. Experimental techniques like XRD, TEM,
HRTEM, STEM-Z, EELS, SIMS and four-point probe
resistivity measurement were used for in-depth
analysis. Effect of microstructures of these films
on their mechanical and electrical properties, and
on diffusion behavior of Cu was analyzed.