TiN thin film resistors for monolithic microwave integrated circuits

Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2010

Titanium nitride (TiN) thin film resistors (TFRs) have been fabricated by reactive sputter deposition. The TFRs were characterized in terms of composition, thickness, and resistance. Furthermore, a first assessment of the resistor reliability was made by measurements of the resistivity (rho) versus temperature, electrical stress, long-term stability, and thermal infrared measurements. TiN layers with thicknesses up to 3560 angstrom, corresponding to a sheet resistance (R-s) of 10 Omega/square, were successfully deposited without any signs of stress in the films. The critical dissipated power (P-c) showed a correlation with the resistor footprint-area indicating that Joule-heating was the main cause of failure. This was partly substantiated by the thermal infrared measurements.