Chemical Vapor Deposition of Refractory Ternary Nitrides for Advanced Diffusion Barriers

Refractory ternary nitride films for diffusion barriers in microelectronics have been grown using chemical vapor deposition. Thin films of titanium-silicon-nitride, tungsten-boron-nitride, and tungsten-silicon-nitride of various compositions have been deposited on 150 mm Si wafers. The microstructures of the films are either fully amorphous for the tungsten based films, or nanocrystalline TiN in an amorphous matrix for titanium-silicon-nitride. All films exhibit step coverages suitable for use in future microelectronics generations. Selected films have been tested as diffusion barriers between copper and silicon, and generally perform extremely well. These films are promising candidates for advanced diffusion barriers for microelectronics applications.