Simulation of the physical vapor deposition (PVD) of titanium nitride (TiN) in micronscale contacts was performed using EVOLVE, a physically-based model of non-continuum
mass transport. Simulations of uncollimated TiN PVD using a sub-unity sticking coefficient of 0.6 provide accurate model predictions of experimental data. Using this value in simulations of PVD with a 1:1 aspect ratio collimator results in a significant underprediction of titanium nitride deposition in the feature bottom in comparison to the experimental results. This under-prediction was compensated for empirically by adjusting
a “beaming” coefficient to produce good model predictions of the experimental data.