ADHESION PROPERTIES OF SPUTTERED TANTALUM THIN FILMS ON PECVD SILICON CARBIDES

Dong-Sing Wuu, Ray-Hua Horng and Chia-Chi Chan

Institute of Electrical Engineering, Da-Yeh University, Chang-Hwa, Taiwan 515, ROC

Sputtered Ta and PECVD a-SiC:H thin films have been used as the passivation overcoats in commercial thermal ink-jet printheads. Understanding the interaction between Ta and a-SiC:H films is being recognized as a key to enhance the ultimate device reliability. It is found that the performance of Ta adhesion is critically dependent on the composition, microstructure, and mechanical properties of the a-SiC:H films. The difference in adhesion between the Ta and a-SiC:H films is attributed to the film density of PECVD a-SiC:H. Various failure modes by the microscratch tests for the Ta/SiC samples will be discussed in this paper.