Patent ID: 7595270

Claim:
A process for forming a passivated metal nitride thin film on a substrate in a reaction space, comprising: forming a metal nitride thin film through an ALD process comprising the steps of: a) contacting the substrate with a vapor-phase pulse of a metal source chemical; b) removing excess metal source chemical from the reaction space; c) contacting the substrate with a vapor phase pulse of one or more plasma-excited species of hydrogen; d) removing excess plasma-excited species of hydrogen and reaction by-products from the reaction space; e) contacting the substrate with a vapor phase pulse of a nitrogen source chemical; f) removing excess nitrogen source chemical and reaction by-products from the reaction space; and g) repeating steps a) through f) until a metal nitride thin film of desired thickness is formed over the substrate; and passivating the metal nitride thin film by contacting the substrate with a vapor phase pulse of a source chemical of a passivating species.