| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 549308 | Microelectronics Reliability | 2011 | 6 Pages |
The study concerns the CNx thin films deposited by Low Pressure Hot Target Reactive Magnetron Sputtering (LP-HTRMS). The thin film resistance changes with relative humidity (RH) and optical properties have been studied in the range of 300–653 K. The temperature coefficients of resistivity changes were −2.5%/K at 300 K and −0.5%/K at 500 K. The activation energy of conductivity Eρ was found to be 0.21 eV in the case of unannealed sample and 0.44 eV when the sample was annealed at 653 K. The CNx thin films fastness to light was tested in the range of 200–2500 nm by measuring their transmittance. The calculations of absorption carrying out with Tauc formula proved the dominance of indirect optical transitions with Eg energy of 1.04 eV and direct transitions of Eg 2.05 eV. The UV radiation was fully absorbed and light transmission was ca. 90% in the range from visible radiation to far infrared of 1000–2500 nm. The CNx thin films showed the high resistance sensitivity to RH changes. At T = 300 K resistance changed from 882 M Ω for 36% RH to 386 k Ω for 85% RH. The CNx thin films susceptibility to humidity was observed in case of both DC and AC current (100 Hz to 10 kHz) measurements. The Si3N4 or SiC buffer adhesive layer was incorporated between CNx film and substrate and its influence on CNx electrical properties was observed.
