Thermal and electrical barrier performance testing of ultrathin atomic layer deposition tantalum-based materials for nanoscale copper metallization

The barrier performance of a metal-organic atomic layer deposition (ALD) tantalum nitride process has been investigated for potential application as copper diffusion barrier in future device generations. This process, which is carried out at 250/spl deg/C, thus enabling excellent integrability with thermally fragile dielectric systems, employs a commercial ALD reactor. Preliminary copper barrier performance results of ultrathin (6 nm) TaN/sub x/ films, employing both thermal and electrical biasing, are presented and discussed.