Quality of electroplated copper films produced using different acid electrolytes

Author(s):  
C. H. Seah ◽  
S. Mridha ◽  
L. H. Chan
Author(s):  
Naokazu Murata ◽  
Naoki Saito ◽  
Kinji Tamakawa ◽  
Ken Suzuki ◽  
Hideo Miura

Both mechanical and electronic properties of electroplated copper films used for interconnections were investigated experimentally considering the change of their micro texture caused by heat treatment. The fracture strain of the film annealed at 400°C increased from about 3% to 15% and their yield stress decreased from about 270 MPa to 90 MPa. In addition, it was found that two different fatigue fracture modes appeared in the film. One was a typical ductile fracture mode and the other was brittle one. When the brittle fracture occurred, a crack propagated along weak or porous grain boundaries which were formed during electroplating. The brittle fracture mode disappeared after the annealing at 300°C. These results clearly indicated that the mechanical properties of electroplated copper thin films vary drastically depending on their micro texture. The electrical reliability of the electroplated copper yjin film interconnections was also investigated. The interconnections used for electromigration tests were made using by a damascene process. An abrupt fracture mode due to local fusion appeared in the as-electroplated interconnections. Since the fracture rate increased almost linearly with the square of the applied current density, this fracture mode was dominated by local Joule heating. It seemed that the local current concentration occurred around the porous grain boundaries. The life of the interconnections was improved drastically after the annealing at 400°C. This was because of the increase of the average grain size and the improvement of the quality of grain boundaries in the annealed interconnections. However, the stress-induced migration occurred in the interconnections annealed at 400°C. This was because of the high tensile residual stress caused by the constraint of the densification of the films during annealing by the surrounding oxide film. Therefore, it is very important to control the crystallographic quality of electroplated copper films for improving the reliability of thin film interconnections. The quality of the grain boundaries can be evaluated by applying an EBSD (Electron Back Scatter Diffraction) analysis. New two experimentally determined parameters are proposed for evaluating the quality of grain boundaries quantitatively. It was confirmed that the crystallographic quality of grain boundaries can be evaluated quantitatively by using the two parameters, and it is possible to estimate both the strength and reliability of the interconnections.


Author(s):  
Naokazu Murata ◽  
Naoki Saito ◽  
Kinji Tamakawa ◽  
Ken Suzuki ◽  
Hideo Miura

Both mechanical and electrical properties of electroplated copper thin films were investigated experimentally with respect to changes in their micro texture. Clear recrystallization was observed after the annealing even at low temperature of about 150°C. The fracture strain of the film annealed at 400°C increased from the initial value of about 3% to 15%, and at the same time, the yield stress of the annealed film decreased from about 270 MPa to 90 MPa. In addition, it was found that there were two fatigue fracture modes in the film annealed at the temperatures lower than 200°C. One was a typical ductile fracture mode with plastic deformation and the other was brittle one. When the brittle fracture occurred, the crack propagated along weak or porous grain boundaries which remained in the film after electroplating. The brittle fracture mode disappeared after the annealing at 400°C. These results clearly indicated that the mechanical properties of electroplated copper thin films vary drastically depending on their micro texture. Next, the electrical reliability of electroplated copper thin film interconnections was discussed. The interconnections used for electromigration (EM) tests were made by damascene process. The width of the interconnections was varied from 1 μm to 10 μm. An abrupt fracture mode due to local fusion appeared in the as-electroplated films within a few hours during the test. Since the fracture rate increased linearly with the increase of square of the applied current density, this fracture mode was dominated by local Joule heating. It seemed that the local resistance of the film increased due to the porous grain boundaries and thus, the local temperature around the porous grain boundaries increased drastically. On the other hand, the life of the interconnections annealed at 400°C was improved significantly. This was because of the increase of the average grain size and the improvement of the quality of grain boundaries in the annealed films. The electrical properties of the electroplated copper films were also dominated by their micro texture. However, the stress migration occurred in the interconnections after the annealing at 400°C. This was because of the high residual tensile stress caused by the constraint of the densification of the films by the surrounding oxide film in the interconnection structures during the annealing. Finally, electroplating condition was controlled to improve the electrical properties. Both the resistance of electromigration and electrical resistivity were improved significantly. However, electromigration of copper atoms still occurred at the interface between the electroplated copper and the thin tantalum (Ta) layer sputtered as base material. Therefore, it is very important to control the crystallographic quality of electroplated copper films and the interface between different materials for improving the reliability of thin film interconnections.


Author(s):  
Shih-Chieh Chang ◽  
Jia-Min Shieh ◽  
Bau-Tong Dai ◽  
Ming-Shiann Feng ◽  
Ying-Lang Wang

2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Naokazu Murata ◽  
Naoki Saito ◽  
Kinji Tamakawa ◽  
Ken Suzuki ◽  
Hideo Miura

Effects of crystallographic quality of grain boundaries on mechanical and electrical properties were investigated experimentally. A novel method using two parameters of image quality (IQ) and confidence index (CI) values based on electron back-scattering diffraction (EBSD) analysis was proposed in order to evaluate crystallographic quality of grain boundaries. IQ value was defined as an index to evaluate crystallinity in region irradiated with electron beam. CI value determined existence of grain boundaries in the region. It was found that brittle intergranular fatigue fracture occurred in the film without annealing and the film annealed at 200 °C because network of grain boundaries with low crystallinity remained in these films. On the other hand, the film annealed at 400 °C caused only ductile transgranular fatigue fracture because grain boundaries with low crystallinity almost disappeared. From results of measurement of electrical properties, electrical resistivity of copper interconnection annealed at 400 °C with high crystallinity (2.09 × 10−8 Ωm) was low and electron migration (EM) resistance was high compared with an copper interconnection without annealing with low crystallinity (3.33 × 10−8 Ωm). It was clarified that the interconnection with high crystallinity had superior electrical properties. Thus, it was clarified that the crystallographic quality of grain boundaries has a strong correlation of mechanical and electrical reliability.


1999 ◽  
Vol 562 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Chen ◽  
Suraj Rengarajan ◽  
Peter Hey ◽  
Yezdi Dordi ◽  
Hong Zhang ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTSelf-annealing properties of electroplated and sputtered copper films at room temperature were investigated in this study, in particular, the effect of copper film thickness, electrolyte systems used, as well as their level of organic additives for electroplating. Real-time grain growth was observed by transmission electron microscopy. Sheet resistance and X-ray diffraction measurements further confirmed the recrystallization of the electroplated copper film with time. The recrystallization of electroplated films was then compared with that of sputtered copper films.


1999 ◽  
Vol 564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Chen ◽  
Suraj Rengarajan ◽  
Peter Hey ◽  
Yezdi Dordi ◽  
Hong Zhang ◽  
...  

AbstractSelf-annealing properties of electroplated and sputtered copper films at room temperature were investigated in this study, in particular, the effect of copper film thickness, electrolyte systems used, as well as their level of organic additives for electroplating. Real-time grain growth was observed by transmission electron microscopy. Sheet resistance and X-ray diffraction measurements further confirmed the recrystallization of the electroplated copper film with time. The recrystallization of electroplated films was then compared with that of sputtered copper films.


1999 ◽  
Vol 564 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Faust ◽  
Q. Jiang

AbstractThe effect of various barrier materials on the microstructure of electroplated Copper films was investigated. Analysis of the Cu was performed at the as-deposited, room temperature stabilized, and annealed states. It shows that the barrier material can have a dramatic effect on the properties of electroplated Cu.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document