• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.287-291
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• 2012

We investigated the etching characteristics of TaN thin films in an $O_2/BCl_3/Cl_2/Ar$ gas using a high density plasma (HDP) system. A maximum etch rate of the TaN thin films and the selectivity of TaN to $SiO_2$ were obtained as 172.7 nm/min and 6.27 in the $O_2/BCl_3/Cl_2/Ar$ (3:2:18:10 sccm) gas mixture, respectively. At the same time, the etch rate was measured as a function of the etching parameters, such as the RF power, DC-bias voltage, and process pressure. The chemical states on the surface of the etched TaN thin films were investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Auger electron spectroscopy was used for elemental analysis on the surface of the etched TaN thin films. These surface analyses confirm that the surface of the etched TaN thin film is formed with the nonvolatile by-product.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.790-794
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• 2003

This paper describes the fabrication and characteristics of ceramic thin film type pressure sensors based on Ta-N strain gauges for high temperature applications. Ta-N thin-film strain gauges are deposited onto a thermally oxidized Si diaphragm by RF sputtering in an argon-nitrogen atmos[here($N_2$ gas ratio: 8%, annealing condition: 90$0^{\circ}C$, 1 hr.), patterned on a wheatstone bridge configuration, and used as pressure sensing elements with a high stability and a high gauge factor. The sensitivity is 1.097 ～ 1.21 mV/Vㆍkgf/$\textrm{cm}^2$ in the temperature range of 25 ～ 200 $^{\circ}C$ and the maximum non-linearity resistance), non-linearity than existing Si piezoresistive pressure sensors. The fabricated ceramic thin-film type pressure sensor is expected to be usefully applied as pressure and load sensors that os operable under high-temperature.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.335-340
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• 2013

In this study, the plasma etching of the TaN thin film with $CH_4/BCl_3/Ar$ gas chemistries was investigated. The etch rate of the TaN thin film and the etch selectivity of TaN to $SiO_2$ was studied as a function of the process parameters, including the amount of $CH_4$. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) was used to investigate the chemical states of the surface of the TaN thin film.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.226-230
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• 2005

In this research, magnetic properties and annealing effects of the spin valve structures were investigated, which have Ta underlayer deposited with Ar and $N_2$ gas mixture. Also, TaN underlayer as a diffusion barrier and the substrate were investigated. The structure of the spin valve was Si($SiO_2$)/Ta(TaN)/NiFe/CoFe/Cu/CoFe/FeMn/Ta. Deposition rate was decreased and resistivity and roughness of the TaN films were increased as the $N_2$ gas flow was increased. The XRD results after high temperature annealing showed that Silicides were created in Si/Ta layer, but not in Si/TaN layer. Magnetoresistance ratio (MR) and exchange coupling field ($H_{ex}$) were decreased when the $N_2$ gas flow was increased over 4.0 sccm. The MR of the spin valves with Ta and TaN films deposited with up to 4.0 sccm of $N_2$ gas flow was increased about $0.5\%$ until the annealing temperature of up to $200^{\circ}C$ and then, decreased. TaN film deposited with 8.0 sccm of $N_2$ gas flow showed twice the adhesion of the Ta film. The above results indicate that with 3.0 sccm of $N_2$ gas flow during the Ta underlayer deposition, the magnetic properties of the spin valves are maintained, while the underlayer may be used as a diffusion barrier and the adhesion between the Si substrate and the underlayer is increased.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.104-104
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• 2009

Critical dimensions has rapidly shrunk to increase the degree of integration and to reduce the power consumption. However, it is accompanied with several problems like direct tunneling through the gate insulator layer and the low conductivity characteristic of poly-silicon. To cover these faults, the study of new materials is urgently needed. Recently, high dielectric materials like $Al_2O_3$, $ZrO_2$ and $HfO_2$ are being studied for equivalent oxide thickness (EOT). However, poly-silicon gate is not compatible with high-k materials for gate-insulator. To integrate high-k gate dielectric materials in nano-scale devices, metal gate electrodes are expected to be used in the future. Currently, metal gate electrode materials like TiN, TaN, and WN are being widely studied for next-generation nano-scale devices. The TaN gate electrode for metal/high-k gate stack is compatible with high-k materials. According to this trend, the study about dry etching technology of the TaN film is needed. In this study, we investigated the etch mechanism of the TaN thin film in an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) system with $O_2/BCl_3/Ar$ gas chemistry. The etch rates and selectivities of TaN thin films were investigated in terms of the gas mixing ratio, the RF power, the DC-bias voltage, and the process pressure. The characteristics of the plasma were estimated using optical emission spectroscopy (OES). The surface reactions after etching were investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and auger electron spectroscopy (AES).

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.65-68
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• 2005

The effect of crystal orientation and microstructure on the mechanical properties of $TaN_x$ was investigated. $TaN_x$ films were grown on $SiO_2$ substrates by ultrahigh vacuum unbalanced magnetron sputter deposition in mixed $Ar/N_2$ discharges at 20 mTorr (2.67 Pa) and at $350^{\circ}C$. Unlike the Ti-N system, in which TiN is the terminal phase, a large number of N-rich phases in the Ta-N system could lead to layers which had nano-sized lamella structure of coherent cubic and hexagonal phases, with a correct choice of nitrogen fraction in the sputtering mixture and ion irradiation energy during growth. The preferred orientations and the micro-structure of $TaN_x$ layers were controlled by varing incident ion energy $E_i\;(=30eV\~50eV)$ and nitrogen fractions $f_{N2}\;(=0.1\~0.15)$. $TaN_x$ layers were grown on (0002)-Ti underlayer as a crystallographic template in order to relieve the stress on the films. The structure of the $TaN_x$ film transformed from Bl-NaCl $\delta-TaN_x$ to lamellar structured Bl-NaCl $\delta-TaN_x$ + hexagonal $\varepsilon-TaN_x$ or Bl-NaCl $\delta-TaN_x$ + hexagonal $\gamma-TaN_x$ with increasing the ion energy at the same nitrogen fraction $f_{N2}$. The hardness of the films also increased by the structural change. At the nitrogen fraction of $0.1\~0.125$, the structure of the $TaN_x$ films was changed from $\delta-TaN_x\;+\;\varepsilon-TaN_x\;to\;\delta-TaN_x\;+\;\gamma-TaN_x$ with increasing the ion energy. However, at the nitrogen fraction of 0.15 the film structure did not change from $\delta-TaN_x\;+\;\varepsilon-TaN_x$ over the whole range of the applied ion energy. The hardness increased significantly from 21.1 GPa to 45.5 GPa with increasing the ion energy.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2001.11b
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• pp.97-100
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• 2001

This paper presents the characteristics of Ta-N thin-film strain gauges as high-temperature strain gauges, which were deposited on Si substrate by DC reactive magnetron sputtering in an argon-nitrogen atmosphere(Ar-(4~16%)$N_2$). These films were annealed for 1 hour in $2{\times}10^{-6}$ Torr vaccum furnace range $500\sim1000^{\circ}C$. The optimized conditions of Ta-N thin-film strain gauges were annealing condition($900^{\circ}C$, 1 hr.) in 8% $N_2$ gas flow ratio deposition atmosphere. Under optimum conditions, the Ta-N thin-films for strain gauges is obtained a high resistivity, $\rho=768.93$ ${\mu}{\Omega}cm$, a low temperature coefficient of resistance, TCR=-84 ppm/$^{\circ}C$ and a high temporal stability with a good longitudinal gauge factor, GF=4.12.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.63-63
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• 2001

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.29-34
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• 1992

Phase transition, dielectric properties, and leakage current characteristics of Ta2O5 thin film fabricated by sol-gel process with tantalum penta-n-butoxide were studied as a function of annealing temperature in O2 atmoshpere. Although Ta2O5 thin film annealed at temperatures below 700$^{\circ}C$ for 1 hr was amorphous, it was crystallized to ${\beta}$-Ta2O5 of orthorhombic phase by annealing at temperatures higher than 750$^{\circ}C$. With increasing annealing temperature from 500$^{\circ}C$ to 900$^{\circ}C$, dielectric constant of sol-gel processed Ta2O5 thin film was changed from 17.6 to 15.3 due to the increase of SiO2 thickness at Ta2O5/Si interface. For Ta2O5 thin film annealed at 500$^{\circ}C$ to 800$^{\circ}C$ for 1 hr in O2 atmosphere, leakage current was remarkably reduced and breakdown strength was increased with higher annealing temperature. For Ta2O5 film annealed at 800$^{\circ}C$, breakdown did not occur even at electric field strength of 30${\times}$105V/cm and leakage current was maintained lower than 10-8A/$\textrm{cm}^2$.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.199-204
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• 2003

This paper describes on the fabrication and characteristics of a ceramic thin-film pressure sensor based on Ta-N strain-gauges for harsh environment applications. The Ta-N thin-film strain-gauges are sputter-deposited onto a micromachined Si diaphragms with buried cavity for overpressure protectors. The proposed device takes advantages of the good mechanical properties of single-crystalline Si as diaphragms fabricated by SDB and electrochemical etch-stop technology, and in order to extend the operating temperature range, it incorporates relatively the high resistance, stability and gauge factor of Ta-N thin-films. The fabricated pressure sensor presents a low temperature coefficient of resistance, high-sensitivity, low non-linearity and excellent temperature stability. The sensitivity is $1.097-1.21\;mV/V{\codt}kgf/cm^2$ in the temperature range of $25-200^{\circ}C$ and the maximum non-linearity is 0.43%FS.