Effects of process parameters and annealing temperature on growth rate, phase structure and electrical properties of tantalum nitride films

Tantalum nitride (TaN_x) is widely used in thin-film resistance materials due to its excellent physical and chemical stability and low resistance temperature coefficient (TCR). Tantalum nitride (TaN_x) thin films were prepared on Si(100) substrate by reactive magnetron sputtering equipment. The effects of the total flow rate of argon nitrogen, nitrogen content, and sputtering power on the thin films were studied by adjusting different sputtering parameters. The film deposition rate, film structure, TCR, and resistivity were characterized by step profiler, XRD, and electrical test, and the influence law was summarized. The experimental results show that the total flow rate of argon nitrogen, nitrogen content, sputtering power, and other technological parameters have significant effects on the deposition rate of TaN_x films. The process parameters will directly change the phase structure of the film, affect the crystal quality of the film, and thus bring about the change of TCR and resistivity of the film. In addition, by adjusting the annealing temperature, the change rule of the vacuum annealing temperature on the properties of the film was explored, and the morphology of the film was characterized by SEM. The results show that annealing can effectively improve the grain size and promote the secondary crystallization of thin films. The strength of the TaN(111) phase increases with the increase of annealing temperature, and the TaN(200) phase and TaN(111) phase appear at 300 ℃. With the increase of annealing temperature, the resistivity of thin-film increases, and the absolute value of TCR decreases first and then increases. When the annealing temperature reaches 800 ℃, the film cracks obviously. The results show that the deposition rate, phase structure, and electrical properties of TaN_x resistance films can be improved by adjusting the film-making process.