Fabrication of Tantalum nitride thin film using the low vacuum magnetron sputtering system

Tantalum nitride (TaN) thin film is attractive material as a diffusion barrier coating and used in electronics industry. TaN thin film is fabricated by some method such as DC sputtering, CVD and pulse laser deposition. In this study, TaN thin film was deposited on Si (111) wafer, soda glass substrates by reactive sputtering at low vacuum conditions for reducing energy costs. N2/Ar gas mass flow rate was ranged from 9 to 23% at N2 gas. At lower N2 gas flow, crystalline TaN thin films were obtained. Amorphous like TaN thin films were observed at other rate range using XRD. Ta oxide layer was observed between the crystalline TaN film and both of Si wafer and glass substrates by GDS depth profiling. Film thickness was 200- 400 nm. The TaN layer deposited on Si and glass substrate in 9 % N2 flow having columnar structure was observed in these films by FE-SEM.