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Fabrication and Characterization of TaxN Thin Films Deposited by DC Magnetron Sputtering Technique: Application in Microelectronic Devices

  • Condensed Matter
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Abstract

For long-term reliability, a microelectronic device needs the desired electrical behavior with high hardness, decent elasticity, fine adhesion on Si, and low interface stress. In the current research, tantalum nitride thin films were successfully deposited on Si and SiO2/Si substrates using DC reactive magnetron sputtering technique and studied as a microelectronic device. The phase and structure of the samples were tuned by the nitrogen/argon ratio ([N2/(N2 + Ar)]) and deposition power (75 and 150 W). Various structural, electrical, mechanical, and tribological characteristics of the samples were considered by X-ray diffraction technique, four-point probe instrument, indentation test, and scratch examination. The samples deposited at a nitrogen/argon ratio of 0.05 showed a Ta2N phase with hexagonal structure while those deposited at higher ratios (0.10, 0.15, and 0.20) represented a TaN phase with cubic structure. An increase in nitrogen content in the sample structure increased the resistivity values and destroyed the mechanical and tribological characteristics. The samples deposited at higher power (150 W) also showed more resistivity values and were more resistant to plastic deformation and wear than those deposited at lower power (75 W).

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Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated and analyzed during the current study.

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Acknowledgements

This work was carried out with the support of the Islamic Azad University, Karaj and Chalous branches. The authors are also grateful to Dr. Morad Bagherzadeh Kasmani for partial support of this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Islamic Azad University, Karaj branch, Karaj, Iran

    M. Gholami, Mehrdad Monsefi & Seyed Majid Borghei

  2. Department of Physics, Islamic Azad University, Chalous branch, Chalous, Iran

    K. Khojier

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  1. M. Gholami
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Contributions

M. Golami: part of the experimental process, software. K. Khojier: supervision, conceptualization, part of the experimental process, writing, editing. M. Monsefi: methodology, supervision, editing. S.M. Borghei: software, investigation.

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Correspondence to K. Khojier.

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Gholami, M., Khojier, K., Monsefi, M. et al. Fabrication and Characterization of TaxN Thin Films Deposited by DC Magnetron Sputtering Technique: Application in Microelectronic Devices. Braz J Phys 52, 171 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13538-022-01164-x

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