Comparative study on metallization and passivation materials for high temperature sensor applications

We investigated the performance of different metallization/passivation systems for high temperature applications. The metallizations comprised a 150 nm sputtered Pt or a 150 nm e-beam evaporated PtRh layer on Ti/TiN underlayers, respectively. The passivation coatings consisted of amorphous PECVD SiO x, of amorphous stress-reduced PECVD SiNy, and of a SiOx/ SiNy stack. For samples with SiOx and SiOx/ SiNy passivation layers the electrical properties changed after a short high temperature anneal at 600 °C but then remained stable during further annealing. This was attributed to the formation of PtTi alloys, which stabilized the metallization stack. In samples with SiN y passivation a significant Pt out-diffusion into the passivation layer was observed. This led to a degradation of the electrical and mechanical properties. The best performance was achieved with Pt-based metallizations and SiOx or SiOx/SiNy passivations.