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
This is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/243,942 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,537,427 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
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.
US Referenced Citations (10)
Non-Patent Literature Citations (3)
Entry |
Takagi et al., “P2.2-3 Characterization of Al-Nd Alloy Thin Films for Interconnections of TFT-LCDs” Asia Display 1995, 4 pages. |
Takayama et al., “Al-Sm and Al-Dy alloy thin films with low resistivity and high thermal stability for microelectric conductor lines”, Thin Solid Films 289, 1996 pp. 289-294. |
Kim et al., “22.2 Pure Al and Al-Alloy Gate-Line Processes in TFT-LCDs”, SID 96 Digest, pp. 337-340. |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09/243942 |
Feb 1999 |
US |
Child |
10/200472 |
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US |