Wang Zi-Qin, Fan Wen-Wen, Li Yu-Hong, Zhu Hua-Long, Wang Yu-Jia, Tang Yun-Long
Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China.
School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Shenyang 110016, China.
Nanoscale. 2025 Jun 19;17(24):14924-14931. doi: 10.1039/d5nr01402f.
As an industrial-grade electrode material, TiN is widely employed as a gate electrode and capacitor material in advanced semiconductor devices. However, the inevitable oxidation plays a negative role in TiN thin films. In this study, crystallographic orientation engineering was employed to fabricate epitaxial TiN thin films, investigating their oxidation behavior and electrical conductivity. Epitaxial TiN thin films were grown on [001]-, [110]-, and [111]-oriented SrTiO substrates under high vacuum. High-resolution X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy confirm the epitaxial relationship and high growth quality. X-ray photoemission spectroscopy depth profiling directly reflects the oxidation of epitaxial TiN thin films. The oxidation level follows the order TiN(001) < TiN(110) ≈ TiN(111). X-ray photoemission spectroscopy after Ar ion etching reveals the presence of TiNO as the oxidation product. As measured using current-voltage curves, the epitaxial TiN thin films still retain the electrical conductivity. Our work provides a useful reference for preparing oxidation-controlled epitaxial TiN films by crystallographic orientation engineering and guidance for the design of chemically stable TiN thin film electrodes.
作为一种工业级电极材料，TiN在先进半导体器件中被广泛用作栅电极和电容器材料。然而，不可避免的氧化对TiN薄膜产生负面影响。在本研究中，采用晶体取向工程制备外延TiN薄膜，研究其氧化行为和电导率。在高真空条件下，在[001]、[110]和[111]取向的SrTiO衬底上生长外延TiN薄膜。高分辨率X射线衍射和透射电子显微镜证实了外延关系和高生长质量。X射线光电子能谱深度剖析直接反映了外延TiN薄膜的氧化情况。氧化程度遵循TiN(001) < TiN(110) ≈ TiN(111)的顺序。氩离子刻蚀后的X射线光电子能谱表明存在TiNO作为氧化产物。通过电流-电压曲线测量，外延TiN薄膜仍保留电导率。我们的工作为通过晶体取向工程制备氧化可控的外延TiN薄膜提供了有用的参考，并为化学稳定的TiN薄膜电极的设计提供了指导。
