The effect of hydrogen on copper nitride thin films deposited by magnetron sputtering

Copper nitride thin films were deposited on Si ( 1 0 0) wafers by reactive magnetron sputtering at various H(2)/N(2) ratios. X-ray diffraction measurements show that the films are composed of Cu(3)N crystallites with anti-ReO(3) structure and exhibit preferred orientation of [ 1 0 0] direction. Although the relative composition of the films has obviously changes with the H(2)/N(2) ratios, the orientations of the films keep almost no changes. However, the grain size, lattice parameter and composition of the films are strongly dependent on the H(2)/N(2) ratios. The copper nitride films prepared at 10% H(2)/N(2) ratios show poor stability and large weight gain compared to the copper nitride films prepared at 0% H(2)/N(2) ratios. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.