Thermal stability of nanocrystalline W-Ti diffusion barrier thin films

Nanocrystalline W-Ti diffusion barrier thin films with different phase structures and Cu/barrier/Si multilayer structures were deposited on p-type Si(100) substrates by DC magnetron sputtering.These films were annealed at different temperatures for 1 h.The diffusion barrier properties and thermal stability were studied using four-probe tester(FPP),XRD,AFM,XPS,FESEM,and HRTEM.The experimental results showed that the films were stable up to 700℃.When the annealing temperature was increased,the Cu and Ti atoms began to react and CuTi3 was formed.In addition,the high resistance Cu3Si was formed due to inter-diffusion between the Si and Cu atoms which made the surface rougher and caused the sheet resistance to increase abruptly.At the same time,failure mechanism of the nanocrystalline W-Ti diffusion barrier thin films during annealing process was also discussed.