Berlin 2024 – scientific programme
Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help
HL: Fachverband Halbleiterphysik
HL 44: Nitrides: Preparation and characterization II
HL 44.1: Talk
Thursday, March 21, 2024, 14:00–14:15, EW 015
Low-temperature plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition of tunable cobalt nitride thin films — •Lukas Alexander Kohlmaier1,2, Matthias Kuhl1,2, Ian D. Sharp1,2, and Johanna Eichhorn1,2 — 1Walter Schottky Institute, Technische Universität München, Germany — 2Physics Department, TUM School of Natural Sciences, Technische Universität München, Germany
Transition metal nitrides are an interesting class of materials due to their high mechanical hardness, as well as magnetic and catalytic properties. In this context, cobalt nitride is especially promising for applications in the semiconductor industry and for electrochemical energy conversion. However, the synthesis of uniform cobalt nitride thin films with controlled composition by atomic layer deposition (ALD) is still rather unexplored. Here, we deposit cobalt nitride thin films by plasma-enhanced (PE) ALD using a cobaltocene precursor. Specifically, we analyzed the impact of different co-reactants and their combinations, as well as deposition temperatures, on the growth characteristics and material properties. The deposition at low temperatures (< 200 ∘C) is only enabled by introducing an additional nitrogen plasma pulse at the end of each PE-ALD cycle to regenerate surface sites for the subsequent precursor adsorption. Increasing deposition temperatures can be leveraged to tune the Co/N ratio and thus the material properties from semiconducting to metallic. Overall, this work puts forward PE-ALD as a promising approach for tuning the material properties of metal nitrides.
Keywords: plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition; nitrides; low temperature; cobalt nitride; thin films