A Chemical Reaction Path Design for the Atomic Layer Deposition of Tantalum Nitride Thin Films

The two-step atomic layer deposition of tantalum nitride (TaN) in which the deposition cycle involved two chemical reaction steps, the formation of elemental tantalum (Ta) by reducing tantalum–pentafluoride with hydrogen plasma and the subsequent nitridation of the preformed Ta with , was performed at . Cubic-TaN with a ratio of 1:1 was achieved independently of the nitridation time, and the fluorine content of the films was below the detection limit using Auger electron spectroscopy. As a result, the electrical resistivity of the TaN film was reduced below by suppressing the formation of .