Morphological and electrical characterization of SixCryCzBv thin films

SixCryCzBv thin films with several compositions have been studied for integration of high precision resistors in 0.8 μm BICMOS technology. These resistors, integrated in the back-end of line, have the advantage to provide high level of integration and attractive electrical behavior in temperature, for analog devices. The film morphology and the structure have been investigated through transmission electron microscopy analysis and have been then related to the electrical properties on the base of the percolation theory. According to this theory, and in agreement with experimental results, negative thermal coefficient of resistance (TCR) has been obtained for samples with low Cr content, corresponding to a crystalline volume fraction below the percolation threshold.Samples with higher Cr content exhibit, instead, a variation of the TCR as a function of film thickness: negative TCR values are obtained for thickness lower than 5 nm, corresponding to a crystalline volume fraction below the percolation threshold; positive TCR are obtained for larger thickness, indicating the establishment of a continuous conductive path between the Cr rich grains. This property seems to be determinant in order to assure the possibility to obtain thin film resistors almost independent on the temperature.