ANALYSIS OF DIELECTRIC NITRIDE THIN-FILMS BY NRA,RBS AND X-RAY-DIFFRACTION

Silicon nitride and aluminum nitride thin films were deposited by rf a nd dc magnetron reactive sputtering, respectively. By varying the depo sition parameters we obtained films with different characteristics. Th e analyses of the films were performed using Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, nuclear reaction analysis (mainly the (d, p) and (p, ga mma) nuclear reactions) and X-ray diffraction. From these analytical t echniques we obtained the thickness, the stoichiometric ratios N/Si an d N/Al of the films, the N and Al depth profiles, the contamination le vels of 0 and C as well as an idea of the crystalline structure of the films. Several correlations among deposition parameters and film char acteristics were found.