Surface deformation and electrical properties of HfN thin films deposited by reactive sputtering
The electrical and mechanical properties of HfN films deposited on silicon by a reactive r.f. sputtering method are examined and discussed in terms of the films' structure and deposition conditions. The structural information has been obtained by employing a thin film X-ray diffraction method, Auger electron spectroscopy and electron microscopy. The recently developed energy principle of indentation has been applied in discussing the results of thin films' indentation by means of a depth-sensing technique. The theory allows the assessment of the details of surface deformation of nitrides, including the delamination process. The electrical properties of the studied films (i.e. resistivity and Hall coefficient) and their structure are found to be related to the deposition conditions. Moreover, the variation of the resistivity (electrical properties) appears to be accompanied by differences in the residual stress level as measured by the deflection method, and by differences in the mechanism of surface deformation (mechanical properties) of the HfN films.