The preferred oriented aluminum nitride (AlN) films with the c-axis parallel to the surface have been grown and demonstrated on alumina and SiO 2 substrates using off-axis rf sputtering. The film orientation as well as the crystallinity was found to be strongly dependent on the total sputtering pressure. Highly oriented films with c-axis parallel to the substrates can be obtained under a total pressure of 80 mTorr containing 75% nitrogen and 25% argon and a substrate temperature of 350 • C. The film orientation is beneficial for the thin film surface acoustic wave (SAW) device application. The deposition process on ceramic substrates as well as the model of growth mechanism shows the possibility of incorporating the thin film SAW devices with microwave integrated circuits.
In situ real-time studies of nickel silicide phase formationThe use of spike anneal in titanium salicide process was studied. The area dependence of C49-to-C54 TiSi 2 phase transformation was reduced for deep submicron poly-Si gate by having spike anneal during ͓rapid thermal annealing ͑RTA͔͒ RTA1 without the use of preamorphizing implant or implant through metal. It is believed that the spike anneal during RTA1 resulted in varying amounts of C54-TiSi 2 , which then acts as nuclesus that grows during RTA2. Results showed that the spike anneal in RTA1 did not increase the gate to source/drain leakage current for the spike anneal temperature investigated at less than 900°C. Results, also, show that a one-step RTA Salicide process is possible for larger linewidth devices using spike anneal.
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