Improvement of Barrier Properties of TaN Film by Plasma Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition

Abstract

The barrier metal properties of Plasma Enhanced ALD (PEALD) TaN deposited on low-k dielectric film (SiCOH) with a k value of 3.0 at a deposition temperature of 300°C by using pentakis (ethylmethylamino) tantalum (PEMAT) and various plasma gases was investigated. The film resistivity of TaN is about 1000 μΩ.cm under the plasma power of 200 W and the frequency of 400 KHz, respectively. The resistivity was significantly reduced by approximately 360 μΩ.cm for the optimized condition of 300 W and 13.56 MHz. In addition, good uniformity was obtained by applying two-step plasma treatment process. The film thickness per cycl of the TaN using two-step plasma was decreased from 1.0 Å to 0.65 Å by reducing a base pressure, indicating the increase of the film density. The PEALD TaN with almost 100% coverage in this paper's dual damascene structure has a contact resistance of about 1.6 Ω /chain at via size of 0.19um.