CHARACTERIZATION OF TITANIUM NITRIDE (TIN) FILMS ON VARIOUS SUBSTRATES USING SPECTROPHOTOMETRY, BEAM PROFILE REFLECTOMETRY, BEAM PROFILE ELLIPSOMETRY AND SPECTROSCOPIC BEAM PROFILE ELLIPSOMETRY

Titanium nitride (TiN) films on various substrates (Si, 1000 Angstrom of oxide on Si, and Al) were characterized using spectrophotometry, be am-profile reflectometry (BPR), beam-profile ellipsometry (BPE) and sp ectroscopic beam-profile ellipsometry (SBPE). For the TIN film on Si o r on oxide, the combination of BPR and BPE is found to be the most eff ective measurement recipe. However, for the TiN film on Al, spectropho tometry is recommended due to large scattering at the Al grain boundar ies. Visible-range SBPE adds some information but not enough to warran t its use in production. Surface roughness on the TiN films was treate d as a mixture of voids and TIN by using the Bruggeman affective mediu m approximation. A comparative study of cross-sectional transmission e lectron microscopy (XTEM) and optical characterization shows excellent agreement. (C) 1995 Published by Elsevier Science S.A.