TiN thin film resistors for monolithic microwave integrated circuits

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