Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Ruco To Extend The Scalability Of Ultra-Thin Direct Plate Liners, Daniel Verne Greenslit

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In traditional semiconductor technology a sputtered copper seed layer is used to improve the adhesion, microstucture, and electromigration characteristics of electrochemically deposited (ECD) copper. The seed layer is deposited on top of a Ta/TaN stack. The Ta layer acts as an adhesion and nucleation layer for the copper seed and the TaN serves as a diffusion barrier for the Cu. As the line widths continue to shrink, scaling each of these layers becomes more difficult. It would be advantageous for the interconnect to be composed of as much copper as possible, transitioning from the traditional liner seed stack to a …