Claims
- 1. A method of forming an electrically conductive metal film for an integrated circuit, comprising:
depositing an aluminum layer onto a substrate; and suppressing hillock formation by introducing nitrogen into the aluminum layer while depositing the layer; wherein the introduction of nitrogen produces an atomic composition of about 2% to 10% nitrogen in the aluminum film.
- 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the layer is formed by physical vapor deposition.
- 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the layer is formed by sputtering a substantially pure aluminum target in a chamber housing the substrate.
- 4. The method of claim 3, wherein sputtering comprises introducing N2 gas into the chamber.
- 5. The method of claim 3, wherein the aluminum target is at least about 99% pure aluminum.
- 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the aluminum target is at least about 99.995% pure aluminum.
- 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the introduction of nitrogen produces an atomic composition of about 5% to 8% nitrogen in the aluminum film.
- 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising subjecting the film to thermal processes at a temperature greater than about 300° C.
- 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the deposited aluminum layer has a thickness of about 0.01 to 1 μm.
- 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the substrate comprises a baseplate of a field emission display device.
- 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the aluminum layer has a resistivity of less than about 12 μΩ-cm.
- 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the aluminum layer has a resistivity of less than about 10 μΩ-cm.
- 13. The method of claim 11, wherein a chamber pressure is about 0.5 mTorr to about 10 mTorr.
- 14. A hillock-suppressing, electrically conductive aluminum film in an integrated circuit, comprising aluminum grains and an atomic composition of about 2% to 10% nitrogen.
- 15. The aluminum film of claim 14, comprising an atomic composition of about 5% to 8% nitrogen.
- 16. The aluminum film of claim 14, wherein the nitrogen is contained in an aluminum nitride subphase.
- 17. The aluminum film of claim 14, wherein the film has a resistivity of less than about 12 μΩ-cm.
- 18. The aluminum film of claim 17, wherein the film has a resistivity of less than about 10 μΩ-cm.
- 19. The aluminum film of claim 14, wherein the film has a surface roughness of less than about 500 Å.
- 20. The aluminum film of claim 14, wherein the film is substantially hillock-free after subsequent thermal processing at a temperature of at least about 300° C.
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/243,942 filed on Feb. 4, 1999, the entire contents of which is hereby incorporated by reference and made part of this application.
REFERENCE TO GOVERNMENT CONTRACT
[0002] This invention was made with United States Government support under Contract No. DABT63-97-C-0001, awarded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). The United States Government has certain rights to this invention.
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09243942 |
Feb 1999 |
US |
Child |
10200472 |
Jul 2002 |
US |