M. Sacilotti

Correlation Between the Electrical Properties and the Morphology of Low‐Pressure MOCVD Titanium Oxynitride Thin Films Grown at Various Temperatures

Titanium oxynitride (TiN x O y ) thin films were deposited by low-pressure metal-organic CVD (LP-MOCVD) on (100) silicon, sapphire, and polycrystalline alumina substrates. Titanium isopropoxide (TIP) and ammonia were used as precursors. The influence of the growth temperature, ranking from 450°C to 750°C, was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and electrical DC measurements. Rutherford back-scattering (RBS) measurements were used to determine the N/O ratio in the films. The surface observations of the deposited films showed two morphological transitions. The resistivity decreased with the growth temperature, while the nitrogen content increased. Moreover, for the highest deposition temperatures, the temperature dependence of the resistivity revealed a transition from a semiconducting to a metallic behavior. Finally, these electrical properties were correlated with the two morphological transitions.

Thermal effects on the growth by metal organic chemical vapour deposition of TiO2 thin films on (100) GaAs substrates

Abstract TiO 2 thin films were deposited on (100) GaAs substrates by LP-MOCVD with deposition temperatures ( T d ) ranking from 450 to 750 °C. The structure of these layers was studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. The growth of the TiO 2 anatase phase was observed for T d T d >600 °C. Finally, X-ray photoelectron spectrometry (XPS) and secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) experiments showed the presence of small quantities of Ga and As through the whole film thickness, slightly increasing at the surface of the layers. This result was related to the SEM observations and explained by considering the growth conditions.

Structural characterization of TiNxOy/TiO2 single crystalline and nanometric multilayers grown by LP-MOCVD on (110)TiO2

TiO2/TiNxOy superlattices were grown by Low Pressure-Metal-Organic Vapor Phase Epitaxy (LP-MOVPE) technique at deposition temperatures ranking from 650 to 750°C. The growth was performed on top of TiO2(110) rutile substrates. Intense peaks observed in the X-rays rocking curves and θ-2θ diffraction patterns show the presence of crystalline epilayers. The TiNxOy layers were grown in a (200) cubic structure on the (110) quadratic TiO2 epilayer structure. Transmission electron microscopy confirmed the XRD results and showed the formation of periodic and well structured epilayers.

Structural and in depth characterization of newly designed conducting/insulating TiNxOy/TiO2 multilayers obtained by one step LP-MOCVD growth

Abstract TiNxOy/TiO2 multilayers have been grown by LP-MOCVD using titanium isopropoxide (TIP) precursor during the whole growth, but with an ammonia flow interrupted for the TiO2 layers. The one step growth process used to grow these structures allowed to stack the conducting and insulating layers without any growth breakdown. SIMS and TEM analyses showed the presence of an alternated insulating/conducting layers structure. Moreover, electrical measurements allowed to measure the dielectric part of insulating TiO2 stacked in these structures, whose permittivity was found to be about 80 for a MOS structure. Thus, such multilayers may lead to very promising applications in the microelectronics field.

Anisotropic and non-heterogeneous continuum percolation in titanium oxynitride thin columnar films

We report the percolation behaviour of the conductivity of titanium oxynitride films grown by low-pressure metal–organic chemical vapour deposition, composed of TiNxOy mixed with TiO2. The usual DC parameters (t, s and Φc), obtained from the effective media theory equations, are compared to the universal values (s = sun while t < tun because of the film anisotropy). This is the first example of an electrical continuum percolation applied to columnar films with chemically similar conducting and insulating units (non-heterogeneous percolation) whose mixing is based upon the growth temperature during the film growth.