High-Resistivity Thin-Film Resistors Grown Using hboxCrB 2-Si-SiC Materials by Radio-Frequency Magnetron Sputtering

Thin-film resistors for the high resistivity and the low temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) applications were prepared using the hboxCrB 2 -Si-SiC (it was abbreviated as CrSS) target in an argon and oxygen mixture ambient on the hboxSiO 2/hboxSi substrates by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. The microstructural and electrical properties of the films were investigated for various deposition temperatures. The resistivity and the TCR values of the films were remarkably varied with increasing deposition temperature. Abrupt variations in the resistivity and the TCR values in the films grown above 550 [compfn]hboxC were attributed to the nanocrystalline hboxCr 2hboxSiO 4 phases embedded in the amorphous phases. The 91-nm-thick samples grown at 565 [compfn]hboxC in an argon and oxygen mixture ambient exhibited a resistivity as high as 1.0 hboxk Omega /hbox sq and a TCR value as low as -hbox6Unknown characterhboxppm/ [compfn]hboxC. The resistivity and the near-zero TCR values of the thin films grown at various temperatures are a strong candidate for high-resistivity thin-film resistor applications.