Elimination of Titanium Nitride Cracking Using Stress Alleviating Ti Buffer Layers

Titanium Nitride (TiN) is necessary as a diffusion barrier for different interconnect systems in metalization schemes of modern integrated circuits. A major disadvantage of TiN, however, is its brittle and hard nature which results in cracks in the film due to large residual stresses generated at the interface of TiN and the substrate. Researchers at Arizona State University have discovered how to eliminate Titanium Nitride cracking allowing integration of both copper and silver metalization.