Mechanical properties, stress evolution and high-temperature thermal stability of nanolayered Mo{endash}Si{endash}N/SiC thin films
- Department of Physics, Accelerator Laboratory, P.O. Box 9, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki (Finland)
- European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Advanced Materials, 1755 ZG Petten (The Netherlands)
- Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 (United States)
- European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Health and Consumer Protection, I-21020 Ispra (Italy)
A study of the microstructure, thermal stability, nanoindentation mechanical properties, and residual stress evolution of nanolayered Mo{endash}Si{endash}N/SiC thin films as a function of vacuum annealing time and temperature is reported. Multilayers of Mo{endash}Si{endash}N (MoSi{sub 2.2}N{sub 2.5}) and SiC were deposited by magnetron sputtering from planar MoSi{sub 2} and SiC targets onto single crystal silicon wafers. The relative amount of both components was varied (12.5{endash}50 vol.thinsp{percent} of SiC) while keeping the bilayer thickness constant (12 nm), or the bilayer thickness was varied (6{endash}24 nm) with constant Mo{endash}Si{endash}N to SiC ratio (25 vol.thinsp{percent} of SiC). Mechanical properties were measured by nanoindentation on as-deposited films and films annealed in vacuum at 500 and 900thinsp{degree}C. Microstructure and thermal stability were examined by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy, glancing angle x-ray diffraction and nuclear resonance broadening. Stress evolution induced by thermal annealing was determined by measuring optically the change in curvature of coated silicon beams. In the as-deposited state, all films exhibited an amorphous microstructure. At 900thinsp{degree}C SiC still remained amorphous, but Mo{endash}Si{endash}N had developed a microstructure where nanocrystals of Mo{sub 5}Si{sub 3} were embedded in an amorphous matrix. The interface between Mo{endash}Si{endash}N and SiC was indirectly shown to be stable at least up to 41 h annealing at 1075thinsp{degree}C in vacuum. The potential of Mo{endash}Si{endash}N as a barrier layer against intermixing between nanolayered MoSi{sub 2} and SiC at 900thinsp{degree}C has been demonstrated. Hardness, modulus and residual stress followed the volume fraction rule of mixture of both constituents of the nanolayered Mo{endash}Si{endash}N/SiC structure. Consequently, by optimizing the volume fraction of the constituents, zero residual stress on a silicon substrate is possible after annealing. {copyright} {ital 1999 American Vacuum Society.}
- OSTI ID:
- 357273
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. B, Microelectronics Processing and Phenomena, Vol. 17, Issue 4; Other Information: PBD: Jul 1999
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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