Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2011
Hydrazine and tetrakis-(dimethylamido)titanium have been used as precursors for the low temperature chemical vapor deposition of TiN thin films between 50°C and 200°C at growth rates between 5 to 35 nm/min. At hydrazine to TDMAT ratios of 50:1 and 100:1 the resulting films show an increase in the Ti:N ratio with increasing deposition temperature. They contain 2% carbon, and varying amounts of oxygen up to 36% as a result of diffusion after air exposure. The low temperature growth is improved when hydrazine-ammonia mixtures containing as little as 1.9% hydrazine are used. Their Ti:N ratio is almost 1:1 and they contain no carbon or oxygen according to RBS. The TiN films grown from pure hydrazine or the hydrazine-ammonia mixture have some crystallinity according to x-ray diffraction and their resistivity is on the order of 104µω cm. The low temperature growth is attributed to the weak N–N bond in hydrazine and its strong reducing ability. In these films, the Ti:N ratio is approximately 1:1.