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The 12th Global Conference on Materials Science and Engineering (CMSE 2023) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2680 (2024) 012034 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2680/1/012034

Fabrication process and variation rule of electrical properties

of CrSi thin film resistors

Jiajia Zhu1,*, Zhili Zhang1, Lihui Gu1, Nailong He1, Hua Song1, Sen Zhang1
1
Technology Development Department, CSMC Technologies Corporation, Wuxi,
China

*E-mail: zhujiajia15@csmc.crmicro.com

Abstract. CrSi film is sputtered on SiO2 by reactive magnetron sputtering method, on which
TIW layer is deposited as the resistance end. After lithographic patterns and corrosion, metal
layer is deposited and etched as input and output to test the electrical parameters of the film. It
is discovered that the target's component determines the electrical parameters' adjustable range.
It is possible to stabilize the temperature coefficient of resistance of CrSi film in ±10ppm/oC by
adjusting the process parameters, resulting in reduction of fluctuations compared with the
widely used ±20ppm/oC, and obtainment of high-precision CrSi film resistors. In addition,
microscopic factors such as grain size and spacing must be considered. CrSi grains, which
transmit electrons, and the SiN groups, which are dispersed along the grain spacing and permit
electron tunnelling, dictate the electrical characteristics of the film. The law of process
adjustment parameters is clarified through the comparison of different component targets,
which has important reference value and guiding significance for the future research of similar
targets or high-precision resistors.

1. Introduction
High requirements for signal stability and accuracy are required in reference voltage source circuits, in
which is usually achieved with the help of metal film resistance circuits with a very low temperature
coefficient of resistance (TCR). Among them, CrSi film is widely used because of its adjustable
square resistance [1] (about 0.1~2 Kohm/square), good stability, high precision and easy integration.
However, its manufacturing process and electrical parameter variation propensity have not yet been
thoroughly and methodically discussed, although many great study findings have been made in the
field of CrSi thin film resistors [2-5].
In this paper, the effective process optimization in the preparation of CrSi films is discussed in
detail, so as to obtain more ideal film electrical parameters and more systematic parameter variation
rules.
In order to produce more optimal electrical properties and a more variation rule of parameter
changes, this article looks at the preparation procedure for CrSi film from a process perspective and
discusses systematic process optimization in detail.

2. Method
The main process flow is shown in Figure 1, where the annotated part is the key point of
manufacturing process development.
According to the requirements of the basic circuit, the appropriate CrSi target (25wt.%-50wt%. Cr)
is selected, forming a thin film on SiO2 by magnetron sputtering.

Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution
of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd 1
The 12th Global Conference on Materials Science and Engineering (CMSE 2023) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2680 (2024) 012034 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2680/1/012034

Figure 1. Process flow of CrSi.

Three morphology-related aspects in the development process are particularly important: wet
corrosion of metal (pay attention to the width of metal overlap CrSi and TiW), photolithography of
CrSi and TiW (menus for appropriate corrosive gas ratios), and wet corrosion of TiW (determine the
length of CrSi resistor). Films with various TCR and square resistance values can be produced by
varying the nitrogen flow rate, sputtering power, annealing conditions, and temperature in the cavity.

3. Results

3.1. Temperature coefficient tc1 and second-order coefficient tc2

According to mathematical model of VBE [6, 7], model formula is used to process the experimental
data, and the model formula is Equation (1), which is well known and commonly used at present.
𝑅 = 𝑅𝑎 ∗ (1 + 𝑡𝑐1 ∗ (𝑇 − 25) + 𝑡𝑐2 ∗ (𝑇 − 25) ∗ (𝑇 − 25)) (1)
This model is used to fit the temperature coefficient tc1 and second-order coefficient tc2 of CrSi
films.

Figure 2. Tendency of film resistance, annealed at different temperature, is tested in different

temperature.
Figure 2 shows the tendency of CrSi resistance with annealing temperature. The solid black point is
measured value of resistance annealed at 420oC (1st annealing) and 420oC (2nd annealing), and the
others are trend of the relative resistance value (R/R-40) normalized at test temperature. From image
inset in Figure 2, with annealing temperature gradually increasing, the resistance exhibits an upward
trend basically. Simultaneously, it can be seen from the normalization curve that the trend of
resistance which increased firstly and then decreased at test temperature is affected by the anneal
process. Based on the given mathematical model, tc1and tc2 of the corresponding process film resistor
can be calculated. These values are listed in Table 1. With increase of annealing temperature, tc1 of

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The 12th Global Conference on Materials Science and Engineering (CMSE 2023) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2680 (2024) 012034 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2680/1/012034

thin film resistor is increased from 11.79ppm/°C at 420°C (1st annealing) and 420°C (2nd annealing) to
about 25ppm/°C at 465°C (1st annealing) and 420°C (2nd annealing), ignoring errors of temperature
control and data during testing.
Earlier [8], a linear compensation technique using tc1 as a reference voltage was used to
compensate for the effects of relative temperature, but this is not ideal in some high-precision circuits.
After introduction of tc2 (second-order coefficient) [9], it can satisfy the requirement of mainstream
bandgap reference circuit and eliminate the influence of high order nonlinear component of VBE on
reference voltage. tc2 is a key parameter for reference curvature compensation, which effectively
reduces temperature drift in reference circuit. Compared with the values in Table 1, tc2 does not
change significantly with process. Selectively, influence of process on tc1 and effective method of
parameter adjustment is focused on this paper.
Table 1. 𝑡𝑐1 and 𝑡𝑐2 of different annealing temperatures obtained according to theoretical model of
resistance.
1st anneal (℃) 420 420 450 450 465
2nd anneal (℃) 420 450 420 450 420
𝑡𝑐1 (℃-1) 1.1790E-05 2.5390E-05 1.9143E-05 2.6143E-05 2.4143E-05
𝑡𝑐2 (℃-2) -1.4054E-07 -1.4354E-07 -1.5396E-07 -1.5096E-07 -1.6096E-07

3.2. Composition analysis and grain size comparison of thin films

Combined with Figure 3, the XPS result of 50wt.% CrSi layer shows that high-precision spectrum of
Si2p (Figure 3(c)) corresponds to two peaks at 102.12ev for the Si-N bond and 99.91ev for the CrSi
bond. There is only one peak (574.31ev) in high-precision spectrum of Cr2p3 (Figure 3(b)),
corresponding to Cr-Si bond. That is, N is mainly bonded with Si, while N is not bonded to Cr. It is
considered that the main structure is the formation of alloy between CrSi group and SixNy group [10,
11], in which the SixNy group is affected by the nitrogen atmosphere to determine the grain spacing.
Cr-Si-N is a kind of metal group and non-metal group mesh distribution, forming electron transport
and electron transition mode of conduction.

Figure 3. XPS results of annealed film.

Based on this, the relative contents of each element in the films prepared under different nitrogen
sputtering atmospheres are compared.
Compared with EDX results, as Figure 4 shows, CrSi and SiO2 layers are grown at intervals.
Conditions corresponding to EDX from left to right are: as-deposited film sputtered at 16sccm, 8sccm,
0sccm; 420oC annealed film sputtered at 16sccm, 8sccm and 0sccm. It can be clearly observed that
with the increase of nitrogen flow during sputtering, nitrogen content in the film increases relatively.
In corresponding annealing film, the nitrogen content has nearly no detectable change. It is believed
that nitrogen in the annealing atmosphere does not affect the content of nitrogen in the film.
There are no evident differences in the content of elements of films annealed at different
temperature, but in TCR and square resistance. The difference, based on grain morphology at various

3
The 12th Global Conference on Materials Science and Engineering (CMSE 2023) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2680 (2024) 012034 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2680/1/012034

annealing temperature, confirms the previous view that the resistance and TCR are mainly determined
by the grain size and grain spacing.

Figure 4. EDX of deposited film and annealed film grown in sequence on the same substrate.

3.3. Comparison of electrical parameters of thin films

In order to clarify the universal applicability of process rule, it is researched that sputtering process
and annealing process on parameters of different components target material, compared with 50wt.%
Cr target.
From a microcosmic perspective, [12] it is known that the resistance of film is made up of two
components: the electronic transmission inside grains and the tunnelling of electrons between grains.
It is precisely because of the difference in composition of target material, 40wt.% Cr accounts for a
smaller proportion of element Cr in film than 50wt.% Cr in the same manufacturing process, resulting
in smaller metal grain size and greater difference in the ratio of grain size to spacing (from the
comparison in Figure 5 below).
After annealing, the original small grain distribution is sparser, which is the reason for the huge
difference in resistance values before and after annealing.
There are obvious differences in surface grain size when comparing the surface morphology of the
two targets' as-deposited films, as shown in Figures 5(a) and (e) corresponding to grain size frequency
diagram below. With the same sputtering process, grain size of 40wt.%CrSi target is obviously smaller
than that of 50wt.%CrSi target, however, grain size after annealed has no obvious change compared
with as-deposited film.

Figure 5. Comparison of grain size changes of sputtered films and annealed films of the two targets.

4
The 12th Global Conference on Materials Science and Engineering (CMSE 2023) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2680 (2024) 012034 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2680/1/012034

As shown in Figure 6 (a), combined with experimental results listed in Table 2, it is believed that
[13] the doping effect in as-deposited films is not obvious when nitrogen content is low. With the
increasement of nitrogen doping and activation of annealing, influence of the increase in resistance
caused by grain spacing is compensated, and the resistance is gradual decline after annealing with
addition of nitrogen until the influence level of two factors reach equilibrium. After that, nitrogen
plays a dominant role as the impurity centre [14], and a considerable amount of insulating SixNy
groups are generated during sputtering and annealing, so that the square resistance of sputtered film
and the resistance of annealed film rise synchronously and statically. In addition, the film resistances
of different components show a regular increase and then decrease (the same as in Figure 2) in
resistance temperature test curve. However, film with different annealing conditions have difference in
resistance change turning temperature point. With the increase of annealing temperature, the
temperature turning point corresponding to resistances exhibit a trend from low temperature to high
temperature[15].

Figure 6. Trend of square resistance between sputtering film and annealed film with sputtering
atmosphere(a) and trend of resistance with test temperature after different annealed materials (b).
Table 2. Experimental data of film thickness and square resistance under different process conditions.
Target
40wt.%Cr 50wt.%Cr
materials
N2(sccm) 0 4 8 12 0 4 8 12 0 8 12
inline QC
367.1 383.5 432 523 243.6 217.6 277 383.1 265 368 511.2
ohm/square
Resistance
0.81 0.51 0.66 0.89 11.9 0.768 0.794 0.985 1.65 0.89 1.12
UF/%
Thickness/Å 219 211 215 217 190 193 192 191.5 150 147 145

Comparing as-deposited film and annealed film under different nitrogen flow rates and the trend of
the relative resistance value (R/R-40) normalized under different test temperatures, as shown in Figure
6, different target has different degrees of influence on the parameters under the same changing
conditions. The electrical parameters of the thin film are summarized from a macroscopic perspective,
which proves the basic law of controllability and regularity of the process effect.

4. Conclusion
The fabrication process and the influence of process parameters of high-precision thin-film resistors
used as reference voltage sources are elaborated in detail. By adjusting the relevant process conditions,
the TCR of thin film resistor is reduced from ±20ppm/°C to ±10ppm/°C. The effects of sputtering
atmosphere and annealing on the composition of CrSi films before and after recrystallization are
determined by material characterization methods, and a new understanding of resistance mechanism of
CrSi films is formed. Finally, by comparing the target materials of different components, the

5
The 12th Global Conference on Materials Science and Engineering (CMSE 2023) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2680 (2024) 012034 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2680/1/012034

regulation law of the process on electrical parameters is proved, which provides a reference law for the
subsequent study of the target materials and even high-precision resistance of different components.

Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 62074030.

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