New Ni Amidinate Source for ALD/CVD of NiNx, NiO and Ni

Abstract

Ni materials in the form of NiNx, NiO or NiSi have been found to be particularly important in memory as well as logic applications. Nickel silicide (NiSi) is emerging as the choice material for contact applications in semiconductor devices with 45nm technology node and beyond.(^{1}) Recent research shows that the resistance switching characteristics of NiO thin film, in combinations with a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structure, offer potential applications for the next generation nonvolatile resistive random access memory devices.(^{2}) As the feature sizes of microelectronic circuits are shrinking, more complex structures are going to be adopted by the industry. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is the preferred technique that can produce ultra-thin conformal layers (<10 nm). Nickel amidinate (Ni-AMD) has been demonstrated as an excellent precursor for both ALD and CVD Ni thin films due to its greater thermal stability and high reactivity. (^{3}) We report our results on deposition of NiO, NiNx and its conversion into NiSi using Ni-AMD, and discuss the chemistry of forming (NiO), (NiN_x) and (NiSi) films with vapor depletion and direct liquid injection (DLI) using various organic solvents that enhance the deposition process.