Characterization of magnetron sputtering deposited thin films of TiN for use as a metal electrode on TiN/SiO2/Si metal-oxide-semiconductor devices

Titanium nitride (TiN) thin films were deposited by dc magnetron sputtering on SiO2/n-Si substrates in order to study their use as gate electrodes in metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices. Rutherford backscattering spectros copy was used to determine the composition of the films and the results wer e correlated to those obtained by electrical measurements of the constructe d MOS devices. Oxygen contamination of the TiN layers was observed, with pe rcentage and spatial variations depending on the various deposition paramet ers such as the deposition temperature and the substrate bias. The best ele ctrical performance was achieved for devices where the exposed TiN surface had low oxygen contamination. From these samples, the TiNx-Si barrier heigh t was calculated to be equal to 0.52 eV. (C) 2000 American Institute of Phy sics. [S0021-8979(00)00324-8].