Growth of TiN layers in most diffusion-barrier applications is limited to deposition temperatures We have grown polycrystalline TiN layers, 160 nm thick with a N/Ti ratio of 1.02±0.03 and a 111 texture, at on by ultrahigh vacuum reactive magnetron sputter deposition in pure Al overlayers, 160 nm thick with inherited 111 preferred orientation, were then deposited at without breaking vacuum. The as-deposited TiN layer is underdense due to the low deposition temperature in which is the melting point) resulting in kinetically limited adatom mobilities leading to atomic shadowing which, in turn, results in a columnar microstructure with both inter- and intracolumnar voids. The Al overlayer is fully dense. Synchrotron x-ray diffraction was used to follow interfacial reaction kinetics during postdeposition annealing of the 111-textured Al/TiN bilayers as a function of time and temperature Changes in bilayer microstructure and microchemistry were investigated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning TEM to obtain compositional maps of plan-view and cross-sectional specimens. Interfacial reaction during annealing is initiated at the Al/TiN interface. Al diffuses rapidly into TiN voids during anneals at temperatures ⪝480 °C. In contrast, anneals at higher temperatures lead to the formation of a continuous nanocrystalline AlN layer which blocks Al penetration into TiN. At all annealing temperatures, Ti atoms released during AlN formation react with Al to form tetragonal at the interface. exhibits a relatively planar growth front extending toward the Al free surface. Analyses of time-dependent x-ray diffraction peak intensities during isothermal annealing as a function of temperature show that growth kinetics are, for the entire temperature range investigated, diffusion limited with an activation energy of 1.5±0.2 eV.
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September 2001
Research Article|
September 01 2001
Interfacial reaction pathways and kinetics during annealing of 111-textured Al/TiN bilayers: A synchrotron x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy study
J.-S. Chun;
J.-S. Chun
Material Science Department and Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, 104 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801
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P. Desjardins;
P. Desjardins
Material Science Department and Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, 104 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801
Groupe de Recherche en Physique et Technologie des Couches Minces, Département de Génie Physique et de Génie des Matériaux, École Polytechnique de Montréal, P.O. Box 6079, Station Centre-Ville, Montréal, Québec H3C 3A7, Canada
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C. Lavoie;
C. Lavoie
IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598
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I. Petrov;
I. Petrov
Material Science Department and Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, 104 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801
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C. Cabral, Jr.;
C. Cabral, Jr.
IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598
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J. E. Greene
J. E. Greene
Material Science Department and Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, 104 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801
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J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 19, 2207–2216 (2001)
Article history
Received:
December 28 2000
Accepted:
April 23 2001
Citation
J.-S. Chun, P. Desjardins, C. Lavoie, I. Petrov, C. Cabral, J. E. Greene; Interfacial reaction pathways and kinetics during annealing of 111-textured Al/TiN bilayers: A synchrotron x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy study. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 1 September 2001; 19 (5): 2207–2216. https://doi.org/10.1116/1.1379800
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