Preparation of NbN by reactive magnetron sputtering using Ne and Kr inert diluents

Journal Article · Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1984 · J. Vac. Sci. Technol., A; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1116/1.572391· OSTI ID:6551910

van Dover, R B; Bacon, D D; Sinclair, W R

Previous studies of the preparation of NbN by reactive sputtering have employed Ar--N/sub 2/ gas mixtures. We have shown that high-T/sub c/ films (T/sub c/ = 14.2 K) can be prepared on substrates held near room temperature by sputtering a Nb target in a dc s-gun magnetron with that gas mix. This paper reports the results of an investigation of the properties of NbN films sputtered in the same system using alternative inert gas diluents, specifically Ne and Kr. The T/sub c/ of these films was found to depend systematically on the N/sub 2/ partial pressure, total gas pressure, and dc cathode voltage; the maximum transition temperatures obtained using Ne--N/sub 2/ and Kr--N/sub 2/ mixtures were 12.8 and 12.7 K, respectively. When T/sub c/ is plotted versus rho a rough general correlation is observed, though data for films sputtered in each inert gas tend to segregate. We conclude empirically that sputtering NbN in an Ar--N/sub 2/ ambient gives the highest film quality and that using Ne or Kr in place of Ar offers no advantages.

• Research Organization: Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey 07974
• OSTI ID: 6551910
• Journal Information: J. Vac. Sci. Technol., A; (United States), Vol. 2:3
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
NIOBIUM NITRIDES
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
SPUTTERING
TRANSITION TEMPERATURE
ARGON
CATHODES
CRITICAL TEMPERATURE
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
KRYPTON
NEON
THIN FILMS
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
ELECTRODES
ELEMENTS
FILMS
FLUIDS
GASES
NIOBIUM COMPOUNDS
NITRIDES
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NONMETALS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PNICTIDES
RARE GASES
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
360603* - Materials- Properties
656102 - Solid State Physics- Superconductivity- Acoustic
Electronic
Magnetic
Optical
& Thermal Phenomena- (-1987)