AVS 46th International Symposium
    Applied Surface Science Division Monday Sessions
       Session AS2-MoA

Paper AS2-MoA7
Analytical Conditions for Semi-Quantitative Auger Analysis of TaN

Monday, October 25, 1999, 4:00 pm, Room 6A

Session: Applied Surface Science for Microelectronics
Presenter: C.F.H. Gondran, SEMATECH
Authors: C.F.H. Gondran, SEMATECH
D.C. Nelsen, SEMATECH, on assignment from Intel
D.A. Hess, Evans Texas
Correspondent: Click to Email
Historically, quantitative analysis of tantalum nitride (TaN) has been done by Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS), to avoid problems due to preferential sputtering effects seen in Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Recently tantalum (Ta) and TaN have emerged as leading candidates for barrier layers in advanced metalization schemes for next generation semiconductor devices. The small size of the features in these devices, as small 0.25 micron and shrinking, necessitates the development of a procedure to perform at least semi-quantitative analysis of TaNx films by a technique with significantly higher spatial resolution than RBS. In this paper the preferential sputtering effects seen in TaN by AES and XPS are characterized as a function of ion beam energy and film composition. This data is used to determine the most favorable analytical conditions for semi-quantitative AES analysis and develop an understanding of the limitations.