| AVS 54th International Symposium | |
| Thin Film | Wednesday Sessions |
| Session TF-WeM |
| Session: | Thin Film and Nanoparticle Growth and Characterization |
| Presenter: | J. Wonnacott, Hewlett-Packard Company |
| Authors: | J. Wonnacott, Hewlett-Packard Company E. Whittaker, Hewlett-Packard Company G.S. Long, Hewlett-Packard Company B. Risch, Hewlett-Packard Company |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Thin ternary films of tungsten and silicon nitride (WSiN) have been studied for use as heater resistors in thermal inkjet printheads. Product applications require films with the appropriate bulk resistivity and thermal stability at process and performance temperatures. A typical resistor may be required to heat and eject several billion ink drops over the lifetime of the printhead. The heating of the WSiN causes changes in film properties that adversely effect ink drop ejection and the subsequent print quality. Specific electrical annealing procedures have been used to stabilize the as deposited WSiN film for resistor firing conditions during printing. Various analytical techniques including X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), X-Ray Reflectance (XRR), X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) have been used to study the WSiN film characteristics after the initial Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD), after actual use in printheads, and after simulated use by rapid thermal processing on blanket deposited films. The PVD processing parameters and WSiN target composition have been varied to study the impact the resulting performance of the resistor film. Employing these analytical techniques optimized resistor films have been explored for high temperature stability characteristics.