Patent ID: 7989339

Claim:
A method for forming a tantalum-containing material on a substrate surface with a processing chamber, comprising: sequentially exposing the substrate surface to a nitrogen-containing gas and a process gas comprising a tantalum precursor gas and a carrier gas during an atomic layer deposition process; and depositing a tantalum carbide nitride material on the substrate during the atomic layer deposition process, wherein the tantalum carbide nitride material is crystalline, and comprises interstitial carbon and elemental carbon having an interstitial/elemental carbon atomic ratio of about 2 or greater and the tantalum carbide nitride material having the chemical formula of TaC x N y , wherein x is within a range from about 0.25 to about 0.40 and y is within a range from about 0.30 to about 0.50 and wherein a flow rate of the nitrogen-containing gas is adjusted to obtain the interstitial/elemental carbon atomic ratio, wherein the nitrogen-containing gas and the process gas comprising the tantalum precursor gas are exposed to the substrate at a gaseous flow rate ratio of at least about 1:1.