Electrical characteristics of TiN contacts to <i>N</i> silicon

Abstract

We have performed a detailed investigation of TiN contacts on n-type silicon. The barrier height was found to be 0.49±0.01 V and the contact resistivity on 0.001-Ω cm substrates below 10−4 Ω cm2. The TiN layers were produced by reactive sputtering. The resistivity of the layers depends on the partial pressure of N2 in the N2+Ar sputtering gas mixture. A minimum of 55 μΩ cm was obtained, which is below the resistivity of pure Ti films. Finally, we have developed two etching solutions which allow patterning of TiN layers using conventional photolithography techniques.