Electrical properties of silicon nitride films prepared by electron cyclotron resonance assisted sputter deposition

Silicon nitride films have been deposited using electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma-assisted rf sputter deposition. Variation in composition and electrical properties of the deposited films has been studied. Films with specific resistivity of 10^1^3 \Omega cm and a dielectric constant of 7 have been obtained at a ECR power of 100 W (corresponding to an ion flux of 1X10^1^0 cm^-^3). These films exhibited minimum interface density of 2X10^1^0 eV^-^1 cm^-^2 and have a critical field of 5 MV/cm. Detailed electrical characterization of the films has been carried out to study the variation of interface density with ECR power and to identify the conduction mechanism

Electron cyclotron resonance plasma source for ion assisted deposition of thin films

An electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma source (10 cm in diameter) has been developed for ion assisted sputter deposition of thin films. Variation of plasma parameters like ion density, electron temperature, plasma potential, and floating potential as a function of pressure and microwave power has been studied using Langmuir probe analysis. The ECR source gives an ion density of $1.01\times 10^{11} /cm^3$ at a distance of 8 cm from the source exit at a pressure of $8\times 10^{-4}$ mbar and 400 W of microwave power. The uniformity of the plasma parameters at the substrate position was found to be $\pm 2$ % over a diameter of 12 cm. Thin films of copper and silicon nitride have been deposited by rf sputtering in the presence of ECR plasma. The properties showed a significant change at an ECR power of 100 W

Ion-assisted deposition of silicon nitride films using electron cyclotron resonance plasma

Ion-assisted deposition (IAD) is one of the most widely used techniques for the deposition of thin films. Electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion sources are ideal for ion-assisted deposition due to high ionization efficiency even at low pressures. Silicon nitride films have been deposited by rf reactive sputtering with ion assistance from an ECR plasma. The ECR power was varied from 0 to 250 W. The effect of ECR plasma on the growth of silicon nitride films has been shown to be systematic and is characterized by using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. The surface roughness for the films deposited without ECR plasma was about 2 nm and decreased to about 0.7 nm for those deposited with 250 W of ECR power. The optical band gap changed from 2.2 to 4.9 eV as the ECR power was increased, indicating higher reactivity in the presence of ECR plasma. Good quality silicon nitride films with a band gap of 4.9 eV, a refractive index of 1.92, and an extinction coefficient of 4X10^-^4 have been obtained with an ECR power of 100 W (corresponding ion density of 1.5X10^1^0 cm ^-^3) and the surface roughness was less than 0.7 nm. The compositional analysis carried out using Auger electron spectroscopy showed a Si/N ratio of 0.73 for the films deposited under optimum deposition conditions

Studies on titanium nitride coatings-effect of ion bombardment

Ion bombardment during thin film growth is known to cause structural and morphological changes in the deposited films and thus affecting the film properties. These effects can be due to the variation in the bombarding ion flux or their energy. We have deposited titanium nitride films by two distinctly different methods, viz. electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma sputtering and bias assisted reactive magnetron sputtering. The former represents low energy (typically less than 30 eV) but high density plasma $(10^{11} cm^{-3})$, whereas, in the latter case the ion energy is controlled by varying the bias to the substrate (typically a few hundred volts) but the ion flux is low $(10^9 cm^{-3})$. The deposited titanium nitride films are characterized for their structure, grain size, surface roughness and electrical resistivit

Sputtered flux distribution on the substrate in electron cyclotron resonance sputtering simulation and experimental study

Electron cyclotron resonance plasma based sputtering is characterized by low pressure operation with high ion density. The distribution of sputtered flux on the substrate at different pressures and target–substrate distances has been simulated using Monte Carlo methods and compared with experimental results. It has been shown that due to cylindrical geometry of the target, at low pressures, the variation as a function of distance is different from conventional sputtering. At high pressures, however, the uniformity of sputtered flux increases with the target–substrate distance. Using the simulated data the variation of the thickness with sputtering pressure and target–substrate distance has been studied

Design and performance study of a scanning magnetron sputtering target

A scanning magnetron sputtering system has been developed and its performance studies are carried out in terms of target utilization, substrate temperature, and film uniformity. The magnetic field on the target surface is scanned by electromechanical movement of magnet array along the length using a step motor. The target utilization efficiency is almost 100%, The substrate temperature rise was minimum (around 50 degrees C) even when the deposition rate is about 6500 Angstrom/min. It was found that al a target-substrate distance of 6.5 cm, and a sputtering pressure of 0.025 mbar, thickness uniformity of +3% has been achieved over an area of 120 mm X80 mm