Thermal and Plasma-Enhanced ALD of Ta and Ti Oxide Thin Films from Alkylamide Precursors

Abstract

We investigated the thermal and plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition PE-ALD of tantalum and titanium oxides from representative alkylamide precursors, TaNMe 2 5 pentakisdimethylaminoTa, PDMAT and TiNMe 2 4 tetrakisdimethylami-doTi, TDMAT. ALD of Ta 2 O 5 by PDMAT with water or oxygen plasma produced pure Ta 2 O 5 films with good self-saturation growth characteristics. However, incomplete self-saturation was observed for TiO 2 ALD from TDMAT. The film properties including microstructure, chemical composition, and electrical properties are discussed focusing on the comparative studies between thermal and PE-ALD processes for both oxides. The results indicate that the PDMAT is a promising precursor for both thermal and PE-ALD of Ta 2 O 5 .