Effect of Al content, substrate temperature and nitrogen flow on the reactive magnetron co-sputtered nanostructure in TiAlN thin films intended for use as barrier material in DRAMs

TiAlN thin films were deposited by using the reactive magnetron co-sputtering method whit individual Ti and Al targets, where the Ti and the Al targets were simultaneously powered by using DC and RF sources, respectively. the electrical resistivity and the structural and microstructural properties of the deposited TiAlN thin films and the effects of Al content, substrate temperature and nitrogen gas flow rate on those properties were investigated. At a low flow rate of nitrogen gas (0.51 sccm), the electrical resistivity of the films was found to increase with increasing AC power, but at a high flow rate of nitrogen gas, it was found to decrease. The structural and microstructural analyses performed by using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that with increasing substrate temperature from room temperature to 400 ℃, the films prepared at 400 ℃ have a crystalline structure while those prepared at room temperature had an amorphous nature. Also, the SEM analysis revealed that with decreasing AC power and increasing nitrogen flow rate, the size of the grains in the prepared films become larger.