Deposition of TiN and HfO2 in a commercial 200 mm remote plasma atomic layer deposition reactor

The authors describe a remote plasma atomic layer deposition reactor (Oxford Instruments FlexAL (TM)) that includes an inductively coupled plasma source and a load lock capable of handling substrates up to 200 mm in diameter. The deposition of titanium nitride (TiN) and hafnium oxide (HfO2) is described for the combination of the metal-halide precursor TiCl4 and H-2-N-2 plasma and the combination of the rnetallorganic precursor Hf[N(CH3)(C2H5)](4) and O-2 plasma, respectively. The influence of the plasma exposure time and substrate temperature has been studied and compositional, structural, and electrical properties are reported. TiN films with a low Cl impurity content were obtained at 350 degrees C at a growth rate of 0.35 angstrom/cycle with an electrical resistivity as low as 150 mu Omega cm. Carbon-free (detection limit < 2 at. %) HfO2 films were obtained at a growth rate of 1.0 angstrom/cycle at 290 degrees C. The thickness and resisitivity nonuniformity was < 5% for the TiN and the thickness uniformality was < 2% for the HfO2 films as determined over 200 mm wafers. (c) 2007 American Vacuum Society.