Thin film resistor for an integrated circuit semiconductor device

Abstract

A thin film resistor for use in microelectronic devices, the resistor having a resistive layer comprising silicon nitride (Si.sub.3 N.sub.4) and refractory metals of tungsten and/or molybdenum. The features of the structure of the resistor is that the film comprises a silicon nitride layer and grains of metal and/or metal silicide, wherein the resistivity is determined mainly by the silicon nitride. Therefore, the total resistance of the resistor can be controlled by controlling the amount of the silicon nitride, thus providing a wide range of the resistivity of 10.sup.-3 to 10.sup.9 .OMEGA.cm. Other characteristics such as immunity to the dopant contained in an adjacent doped layer, namely heat resistivity and low activation energy of the resistivity are verified by associated experiments.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.