Nitrogen incorporation and composition facilitated tailoring of the optical constants and dispersion energy parameters of tungsten oxynitride films

Optical properties, including the index of refraction, extinction coefficient and band gap of 100 nm thick tungsten oxynitride (W-O-N) films are reported. In addition, the Wemple and DiDomenico (WDD) model was used to calculate the dispersion energies and oscillator energies of the films, establishing a correlation among the films' optical, chemical, and physical properties, as a function of nitrogen content. Nitrogen concentration in the W-O-N films was varied by adjusting the nitrogen gas flow rate from 0 to 20 sccm while keeping total gas flow (nitrogen + oxygen + argon) constant at 40 sccm. Both the index of refraction (n) and extinction coefficient (k) of W-O-N films demonstrated a high degree of sensitivity to the nitrogen content during deposition. The optical constants of films fabricated without any nitrogen correspond to transparent W-oxide (WO3) where n550 = 2.1 and k550 = 0.0. The magnitude of the spectral response for both n and k tends to increase with increasing nitrogen content. Systematic increases of the films' nitrogen content lead to the formation of W-oxide (Eg ≈ 3 eV) → W-O-N oxynitride semiconductor (Eg ≈ 2 eV) → N-rich W-O-N semi-metal (Eg < 2 eV) → WN2 type metallic transition was evident in dispersion profiles of n and k for W-O-N films with increasing nitrogen content. The corresponding mechanical characteristics, namely hardness (H) and Young's modulus (E), attain a maximum of 4.46 GPa and 98.5 GPa, respectively, at a nitrogen flow rate of 5 sccm, at which point H and E values decrease to attain 3.57 GPa and 72.91 GPa, respectively. The trend observed in H and E values correlate with the W-O and W-N bonds formation in W-O-N along with the interruption of local epitaxy attributed to increasing nitrogen content within the growth chamber. A correlation among the nitrogen content, optical constants and physical properties, along with the associated dispersion model, is presented to account for the optical properties of sputter-deposited W-O-N films. The results demonstrate that tailoring the properties of W-O-N films for desired applications can be achieved by tuning the nitrogen content and chemical composition.