The Residual Stress of TiN Thin Film Deposited by PECVD

PECVD에 의해 증착된 TiN 박막의 잔류응력

The presence of a residual stress in a thin film affects the properties and performances of the film, so the study of stress in a film must be very important. In this study, therefore, considering the characteristics of PECVD process, it was discussed that the residual stress, measured by $sin^2{\Psi}$ method, fo TiN films deposited on substrates with different TECs (thermal expansion coefficients) changed with film thickness. As a results, it was obtained that the residual stress of TiN film was compressive stress about all kinds of substrates and increased with film thickness. Also, the compressive residual stresses of TiN films increased in Si, Ti, STS304 order. According to the above results, we confirmed that the changes of residual stress of TiN film with substrates were due to the thermal stress originated form the difference in the TECs of the film and substrates, and that the intrinsic stress had dominating effect on the residual stress of TiN film deposited by PECVD. And in this study, the intrinsic stress of TiN film was compressive stress in spite of the Zone 1 structure. It is due to the entrapment of impurities in grain boundary or void.