AVS 64th International Symposium & Exhibition
    Plasma Science and Technology Division Thursday Sessions
       Session PS+TF-ThA

Paper PS+TF-ThA1
Mechanical, Physical, and Electrical Properties of Plasma-Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition of Vanadium Nitride using Tetrakis(Dimethylamido)Vanadium and Nitrogen Plasma

Thursday, November 2, 2017, 2:20 pm, Room 23

Session: Plasma Enhanced ALD
Presenter: Mark Sowa, Ultratech, Inc.
Authors: M.J. Sowa, Ultratech, Inc.
L. Ju, Lehigh University
N.C. Strandwitz, Lehigh University
A.C. Kozen, US Naval Research Laboratory
G. Zeng, Lehigh University
B.A. Krick, Lehigh University
Correspondent: Click to Email
Vanadium nitride (VN) has been proposed for a variety of thin film electronics applications including interconnect diffusion barrier and supercapacitor electrodes. As with other transition metal nitrides, VN exhibits excellent mechanical properties and has been studied for its self-lubricating coating performance. VN thin films have been created primarily through PVD methods. Recently, atomic layer deposition of VN has been reported with tetrakis(diethylamido)vanadium (TDEAV) with NH3 gas and tetrakis(ethylmethylamino)vanadium (TEMAV) with NH3 gas and NH3 plasma.

We report plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition results for VN using tetrakis(dimethylamido)vanadium (TDMAV) with N2 plasma. Optimized TDMAV pulsing and N2 plasma conditions have been established. Analyses include spectroscopic ellipsometry(thickness and optical properties), four point probe(resistivity), XPS(stoichiometry and impurities), XRD(crystallinity), XRR(density and thickness), and sliding wear testing(tribological properties). Depositions were investigated over 150 - 300 °C. Sub-100 μΩ-cm resistivities have been realized at 300 °C.