Patent ID: 7918015

Claim:
A method for making a thin film resistor comprising: heating a substrate to a temperature ranging from above about room temperature to about 350° C. reactive sputtering a tantalum aluminum alloy target containing from about 50 to about 60 atomic % tantalum and from about 40 to about 50 atomic % aluminum onto the substrate; providing a flow of nitrogen gas and a flow of argon gas during the sputtering wherein a flow rate ratio of nitrogen to argon ranges from about 0.1:1 to about 0.4:1; and terminating the sputtering when the thin film resistor is deposited on the substrate with a thickness ranging from about 300 to about 3000 Angstroms, wherein the thin film resistor comprises a TaAlN alloy containing from about from about 30 to about 70 atomic % tantalum, from about 10 to about 40 atomic % aluminum and from about 5 to about 30 atomic % nitrogen, and the resistor has a substantially uniform sheet resistance with respect to the substrate.