We examined the effects of process variables on the sputtered Ti1-xAlxN film properties including the oxidation resistance as diffusion barriers for the complementary metal-oxide-silicon metaloxide-metal capacitor bottom electrode structures. An optimized process window for the TiAlN sputter deposition is proposed, and the examined electrical and physical properties of the films at various deposition conditions are described in this article. The films deposited at an optimized condition of N-2 flow rate of 90-110 sccm, Ar flow rate of 10 sccm, substrate temperature of 300 degreesC, and dc plasma power of 8 kW showed good electrical resistivity of 500-700 muOmega cm, 1sigma sheet resistance uniformity of similar to5% and deposition rate of similar to18 Angstrom/s. At this process window, pseudobinary alloy type of Ti1-xAlxN (xsimilar to0.25) films were obtained with mixed crystallographic preferred orientations of (111) and (200). After furnace postannealing the Pt/TiAlN/TiSi2/poly-Si/SiO2/Si stacks at 600degreesC for 30 min in O-2, interfacial reaction of the electrode barrier layers was also investigated. Conventional TiN barriers showed complete oxidation of both barriers and TiSi2 films after postannealing, whereas the TiAlN barriers deposited at the optimized process condition were oxidized partially only at the top surfaces and give rise to excellent oxidation stability of the bottom electrode structures. (C) 2003 American Vacuum Society. [DOI: 10.1116/1.1562640]