DEPOSITION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NONCONDUCTING SILICON-NITRIDE, ALUMINUM NITRIDE AND TITANIUM ALUMINUM NITRIDE THIN-FILMS

Dielectric thin films of silicon nitride and aluminum nitride were deposited by r.f. and d.c. magnetron reactive sputtering respectively. Titanium-aluminum nitride thin films were prepared by d.c.-r.f. magnetron reactive sputtering codeposition. Different film compositions and characteristics were obtained by varying the parameters of the sputtering deposition. The films were characterized by means of Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, nuclear reaction analysis and X-ray diffraction. From these analytical techniques, we obtained the thicknesses, the stoichiometric ratios N/Si, N/Al, Al/Ti and N/(Al + Ti), the depth profiles of these different elements, the contamination levels of O and C, as well as the crystalline structure of the films.