Effects of deposition temperature on the wear behavior and material properties of plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) titanium vanadium nitride thin films

This work investigates the effects of deposition temperature on the wear behavior and material properties of recently developed plasma enhanced atomic layer deposited (PEALD) TiVN films. ∼50–100 nm thick Ti_xV_1-xN (x ~ 0.5, hereto referred to as TiVN) films were deposited using PEALD on Si substrates with thermal oxide at a range of deposition temperatures (150 °C, 200 °C, 250 °C, 300 °C, 350 °C). Wear testing was performed on each film using a linearly reciprocating tribometer in a controlled humidity environment. Wear rates of the TiVN films varied with deposition temperature, with the 250 °C sample achieving ultralow wear(5.4 × 10⁻⁷ mm³/Nm), while the 150 °C sample wore through the film completely in early sliding cycles. Along with their low wear properties, these PEALD TiVN films were found to have low electrical resistivity when deposited above 150 °C. Film density and crystallite size increased with increasing deposition temperature up to 250 °C, where these properties plateaued. High compressive residual stresses were measured, ranging from 2.7 to 7.7 GPa. XRD Bragg peak intensities showed that films with increasing deposition temperatures had higher degrees of crystallinity. XPS indicated that above 150 °C deposition temperatures, impurities in the film were reduced by ∼4x. Higher deposition temperatures allow for increased adatom mobility, which can lead to higher densities and crystallinity, which are typically associated with lower wear rates. At deposition temperatures below 200 °C, precursor reactivity is sluggish and there is insufficient energy for complete surface reactions to occur, leading to film contamination and less dense films. The subtle differences in wear rates above 200 °C deposition temperature indicated that there are competing material properties that can either contribute to or detract from the wear behavior of the film, and a combination of desirable mechanical, physical, structural, and chemical properties are required for ultra-low wear rates to be achieved. The low wear and friction properties and low electrical resistivity of these films combined with the low deposition temperature, conformality, and atomic layer thickness control of PEALD make them potential candidates for applications such as thermally sensitive microelectronics and MEMS/NEMS.