1. Al$_3$Sc thin films for advanced interconnect applications
- Author
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Soulié, Jean-Philippe, Sankaran, Kiroubanand, Founta, Valeria, Opsomer, Karl, Detavernier, Christophe, Van de Vondel, Joris, Pourtois, Geoffrey, Tőkei, Zsolt, Swerts, Johan, and Adelmann, Christoph
- Subjects
Condensed Matter - Materials Science - Abstract
Al$_x$Sc$_{1-x}$ thin films have been studied with compositions around Al$_3$Sc ($x$ = 0.75) for potential interconnect metallization applications. As-deposited 25 nm thick films were x-ray amorphous but crystallized at 190{\deg}C, followed by recrystallization at 440{\deg}C. After annealing at 500{\deg}C, 24 nm thick stoichiometric Al$_3$Sc showed a resistivity of 12.6 $\mu\Omega$cm, limited by a combination of grain boundary and point defect (disorder) scattering. Together with ab initio calculations that found a mean free path of the charge carriers of 7 nm for stoichiometric Al$_3$Sc, these results indicate that Al$_3$Sc bears promise for future interconnect metallization schemes. Challenges remain in minimizing the formation of secondary phases as well as in the control of the non-stoichiometric surface oxidation and interfacial reactions with underlying dielectrics., Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures. Accepted version more...
- Published
- 2023
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