DYNAMIC PROCESS-CONTROL OF RF REACTIVE SP UTTERING BY MONITORING PLASMA EMISSION INTENSITY

The process of rf reactive magnetron sputtering is suitable for deposi ting TiN films, because of its applicability for large-area processing . This process, however, shows the so-called hysteresis when the react ive gas is controlled by constant flow rate, which leads to a relative ly poor reproducibility. In this paper, it is shown that the closed-lo op nitrogen flow control by plasma emission monitoring (PEM) provides a stable reactive sputtering under a wide range of nitrogen partial pr essure. The influence of the nitrogen partial pressure on the Ti-N fil m composition, crystallographic structure and resistivity was also inv estigated. The Ti-N films deposited at the nitrogen partial pressure o f 2 similar to 5 x 10(-3) Pa revealed the minimum resistivity and appe ared to be stoichiometric TiN. The PEM control system makes it possibl e to stably control this range of nitrogen partial pressure. This syst em also provides high rate film processing.