Patent ID: 7998842

Claim:
A method of forming a IVB or VB metal silicon nitride film comprising: positioning a substrate in a chamber having a working pressure ranging from about 1 mTorr to about 1 Torr, heating the substrate to a temperature from about 200° C. to about 400° C., first exposing the substrate to first flux of a silicon source to form a monolayer of silicon on a surface of the substrate; evacuating the chamber to remove non-absorbed materials of the first flux by pumping the chamber to a pressure ranging from 1 mTorr to 1 Torr; introducing a flux of nitrogen and hydrogen radicals and ions created by a plasma or thermal source to the monolayer of silicon on said substrate in the chamber after evacuating the chamber to remove the non-absorbed materials of the first flux; and second exposing the substrate containing the monolayer of said silicon to a second flux of a Group IVB or VB metallic precursor using atomic layer deposition to provide the IVB or VB metal silicon nitride film having a graded composition on said surface of said substrate after evacuating the chamber to remove the non-absorbed materials of the first flux, said second exposing comprises a different material than the first exposing flux, wherein the IVB or VB metal silicon nitride film has a thickness of about 100 Å or less.