AVS 58th Annual International Symposium and Exhibition
    Surface Science Division Tuesday Sessions
       Session SS-TuP

Paper SS-TuP7
Surface Chemistry of Atomic Layer Deposition of Manganese Thin Films

Tuesday, November 1, 2011, 6:00 pm, Room East Exhibit Hall

Session: Surface Science Poster Session
Presenter: Huaxing Sun, University of California, Riverside
Authors: H. Sun, University of California, Riverside
X. Qin, University of California, Riverside
F. Zaera, University of California, Riverside
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Manganese thin films can potentially be used as Cu diffusion barriers in microelectronic devices, and may possibly be grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD), to produce highly uniform thin films with good conformality in high aspect-ratio structures. Here, the early stages of film growth of two precursors, methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl (CH3C5H4)Mn(CO)3) and dimanganese decacarbonyl (Mn2(CO)10), were investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to assess their viability for ALD of manganese thin films. In most cases, only oxidized manganese could be deposited on silicon substrates covered with their native oxide layer. Only in depositions using (CH3C5H4)Mn(CO)3 at relatively high temperatures (>300°C) it was possible to detect a low binding energy feature in the Mn 2p XPS that could be assigned to metallic Mn (although it is also possible to come from manganese silicate). It was also determined that that low-binding-energy manganese species appears only after the growth of a layer of oxidized manganese, and seems to form in the sub-surface. Electron-induced deposition was also studied and compared with the thermal process. The Mn2(CO)10 precursor was much more reactive, and could lead to multilayer deposition by itself at temperatures as low as 200°C