Effects of low temperature on the characteristics of tantalum thin films

In this paper the effects of substrate temperature (room temperature – 350 °C) on the phase composition and crystallization orientation of the tantalum thin film deposited by direct current magnetron sputtering in an extremely low power deposition regime are presented. In this experiment, heating the substrates to 350 °C resulted in the growth of the hard and brittle tetragonal crystalline structure (β-Ta). Deposited tantalum has a conical structure with large voided boundaries. Sheet resistance of samples is much larger than for the convenient conductors which decreased with increasing the substrate temperature.

► Study of Ta thin film deposited by low power magnetron sputtering on BK7 is done.
► The variable of this study was the substrate temperature below 350 °C.
► Deposited films have single tetragonal crystal structure and very smooth in nature.
► Large voided region between grains is the effect of low current deposition.
► Sheet resistance of films decreases with increasing the substrate temperature.