Atomic Layer Deposition of Molybdenum Nitride from Bis(tert-butylimido)-bis(dimethylamido)molybdenum and Ammonia onto Several Types of Substrate Materials with Equal Growth per Cycle

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) was used to deposit thin films of molybdenum nitride from a new precursor, bis( tert -butylimido)-bis(dimethylamido)molybdenum, and ammonia. The optimum ALD growth window was 260−300 °C and the maximum growth per cycle 0.5 Å. Deposition temperatures are lower than with the previously reported molybdenum pentachloride as the precursor. Molybdenum nitride was successfully deposited on silicon, electrochemically grown nickel, chromium, and quartz glass. Growth per cycle was maintained over substrate materials of different types. Conformality of the deposited films was as high as 98%. Films were mainly amorphous, containing small amounts of the β-Mo 2 N phase. According to time-of-flight elastic recoil detection analysis (TOF-ERDA), the molybdenum−nitrogen ratio was close one. Together with X-ray diffraction data this suggests the existence of a nitrogen-rich amorphous phase in the film.