Plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition of vanadium nitride

This work describes process development and associated characterization of a plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition process for vanadium nitride (VN) using tetrakis(dimethylamido)vanadium and nitrogen plasma over a deposition temperature range from 150 to 300 °C. The authors characterize these films using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, spectroscopic ellipsometery, and tribological measurements to determine the films' chemistry, structure, and wear resistance. Overall, they demonstrate a stable VN growth window between 250 and 350 °C, with deposition temperatures below this leading to incomplete reaction between the precursors. Film crystallinity increases with increasing deposition temperature based on the VN cubic (020) peak area increase. Atomic layer deposition VN films show excellent tribological properties with an average wear rate of 7.7 × 10−8 mm3/N m and a friction coefficient of 0.38.