Diffusion barrier performance of pulsed laser deposited amorphous tungsten carbide films

The performance of pulsed laser deposited tungsten carbide films as diffusion barriers between a 〈100〉 Si substrate and an Al overlayer has been investigated. Four-point probe measurement of resistance is employed to monitor the electrical stability of the Al/WC/Si metallization schemes upon thermal annealing in a vacuum for 30 min in a temperature range from 100 to 500 °C. The Glancing angle x-ray diffraction technique has been used to characterize the as-deposited as well as annealed samples. To study the metallurgical interaction between Al overlayer and the barrier film, experiments on isothermal annealings are carried out. The data obtained have been used to estimate the activation energy for the formation of the intermetallic compound WAl12. Morphological features of the annealed samples have been obtained by employing the technique of scanning electron microscopy.