TY - JOUR
T1 - Effect of passivation on stress relaxation in electroplated copper films
AU - Gan, Dongwen
AU - Ho, Paul S.
AU - Pang, Yaoyu
AU - Huang, Rui
AU - Perng, Leu-Jih
AU - Maiz, Jose
AU - Scherban, Tracey
PY - 2006/6/1
Y1 - 2006/6/1
N2 - The present study investigated the effect of passivation on the kinetics of interfacial mass transport by measuring stress relaxation in electroplated Cu films with four different cap layers: SiN, SiC, SiCN, and a Co metal cap. Stress curves measured under thermal cycling showed different behaviors for the unpassivated and passivated Cu films, but were essentially indifferent for the films passivated with different cap layers. On the other hand, stress relaxation measured under an isothermal condition revealed clearly the effect of passivation, indicating that interface diffusion controls the kinetics of stress relaxation. The relaxation rates in the passivated Cu films were found to decrease in the order of SiC, SiCN, SiN, and metal caps. This correlates well with previous studies on the relationship between interfacial adhesion and electromigration. A kinetic model based on coupling of interface and grain-boundary diffusion was used to deduce the interface diffusivities and the corresponding activation energies.
AB - The present study investigated the effect of passivation on the kinetics of interfacial mass transport by measuring stress relaxation in electroplated Cu films with four different cap layers: SiN, SiC, SiCN, and a Co metal cap. Stress curves measured under thermal cycling showed different behaviors for the unpassivated and passivated Cu films, but were essentially indifferent for the films passivated with different cap layers. On the other hand, stress relaxation measured under an isothermal condition revealed clearly the effect of passivation, indicating that interface diffusion controls the kinetics of stress relaxation. The relaxation rates in the passivated Cu films were found to decrease in the order of SiC, SiCN, SiN, and metal caps. This correlates well with previous studies on the relationship between interfacial adhesion and electromigration. A kinetic model based on coupling of interface and grain-boundary diffusion was used to deduce the interface diffusivities and the corresponding activation energies.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33746008238&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1557/jmr.2006.0196
DO - 10.1557/jmr.2006.0196
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:33746008238
VL - 21
SP - 1512
EP - 1518
JO - Journal of Materials Research
JF - Journal of Materials Research
SN - 0884-2914
IS - 6
ER -