High quality $Si_3N_4$ metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors were realized by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). Titanium nitride (TiN) adapted as a diffusion barrier reduced the interfacial reaction between $Si_3N_4$ dielectric layer and aluminum metal electrode showing neither hillock nor observable precipitate along the interface. The capacitance and the current-voltage characteristics of the MIM capacitors showed that the minimum thickness of $Si_3N_4$ layer should be limited to 500 $AA$ under the present process, below which most of the capacitors were electrically shorted resulting in the devastation of on-wafer yield. According to the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) on the cross-sectional microstructure of the capacitors, the dielectric breakdown was caused by slit-like voids formed at the interface between TiN and $Si_3N_4$ layers when the thickness of $Si_3N_4$ layer was less than 500 $AA$. Based on the calculation of thermally-induced residual stress, the formation of voids was understood from the mechanistic point of view.