Volatile Liquid Precursors for the Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) of Thin Films Containing Tungsten

Abstract

AbstractA new CVD process is described for depositing conformal layers containing tungsten, tungsten nitride or tungsten oxide. A film of tungsten metal is deposited by vaporizing liquid tungsten(0) pentacarbonyl 1-methylbutylisonitrile and passing the vapors over a surface heated to 400 to 500 °C. This process can be used to form gate electrodes compatible with ultrathin dielectric layers. Tungsten nitride films are deposited by combining ammonia gas with this tungsten-containing vapor and using substrates at temperatures of 250 to 400 °C. Tungsten nitride can act as a barrier to diffusion of copper in microelectronic circuits. Tungsten oxide films are deposited by adding oxygen gas to the tungsten-containing vapor and using substrates at temperatures of 200 to 300 °C. These tungsten oxide films can be used as part of electrochromic windows, mirrors or displays. Physical properties of several related liquid tungsten compounds are described. These low-viscosity liquids are stable to air and water. These new compounds have a number of advantages over tungsten-containing CVD precursors used previously.