EFFECTS OF TEMPERATURE AND SPUTTERING POWER ON THE MORPHOLOGY AND OPTICAL CONSTANTS OF THIN TANTALUM FILMS

A set of thin tantalum films was prepared by direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering using different substrate temperatures and sputtering power. In order to identify the optimal condition for hillock free thin tantalum (Ta) film deposition, AFM was employed to measure surface morphology of the Ta films and to research the effect of substrate temperatures and sputtering power on the films surface. The relationship between optical constants and film stress of thin Ta films was also investigated. The comparison of AFM results showed that thin Ta films deposited at 500 K with a sputtering power of 56 W produced a hillock free surface as well as minimum surface roughness. All films were also measured by spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) to characterize their optical properties. Refractive index and extinction coefficient of thin Ta films obtained from SE results by using a 5-layer model increased simultaneously, when sputtering power increased and the substrate temperature remain unchanged. However when the power was a constant, the thin Ta film sputtered at 500 K had a lower refractive index and extinction coefficient than other samples sputtered with other substrate temperatures from 300 to 700 K.