In this work, we report on the atomic layer deposition (ALD) of HfNx thin films by employing CpHf(NMe2)3 as the Hf(IV) precursor and Ar–H2 plasma in combination with external RF substrate biasing as the co-reactant. Following up on our previous results based on an H2 plasma and external RF substrate biasing, here we address the effect of ions with a larger mass and higher energy impinging on HfNx film surface during growth. We show that an increase in the average ion energy up to 304 eV leads to a very low electrical resistivity of 4.1 × 10–4 Ωcm. This resistivity value is achieved for films as thin as ~ 35 nm, and it is an order of magnitude lower than the resistivity reported in literature for HfNx films grown by either CVD or ALD, while being comparable to the resistivity of PVD-grown HfNx films. From the extensive thin film characterization, we conclude that the impinging ions during the film growth lead to the very low electrical resistivity of HfNx films by suppressing the oxygen incorporation and in-grain nano-porosity in the films.

中文翻译：

---

高导电性 HfNx 的等离子体辅助 ALD：关于高能离子对薄膜微观结构的影响

在这项工作中，我们通过使用 CpHf(NMe2)3 作为 Hf(IV) 前驱体和 Ar-H2 等离子体结合外部 RF 衬底偏置作为共反应物来报告 HfNx 薄膜的原子层沉积 (ALD)。继我们之前基于 H2 等离子体和外部 RF 衬底偏置的结果之后，我们在这里解决了具有更大质量和更高能量的离子在生长过程中撞击 HfNx 膜表面的影响。我们表明，平均离子能量增加到 304 eV 会导致电阻率非常低，为 4.1 × 10-4 Ωcm。该电阻率值适用于厚度约 35 nm 的薄膜，比文献中报道的通过 CVD 或 ALD 生长的 HfNx 薄膜的电阻率低一个数量级，同时与 PVD ​​生长的 HfNx 薄膜的电阻率相当. 从广泛的薄膜表征来看，