Effects of Thickness and Oxygen Content on Thermomechanical Behavior of Thin Cu Films Passivated with Ain

Abstract

AbstractThe thermomechanical behavior of a Cu thin film can be dramatically influenced (“oxygen effect”) by exposing the film to a small amount of air or oxygen prior to passivation. Film exposure is accomplished by breaking vacuum at some point prior to passivation. When the top surface is exposed immediately before passivation, the oxygen effect is produced when the passivation material is Si3N4, but no effect is seen with AIN passivations. However, the effect is seen in AIN passivated films when the Cu film surface is exposed to air or O2 and additional Cu is deposited before passivation. This suggests that conditions at the film/passivation interface are an important factor in this anomalous plasticity effect. We have investigated the effects of film thickness and oxygen concentration on these behaviors by preparing films with different thicknesses and oxygen contents for thermomechanical analysis. The thermomechanical behavior is correlated with secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) data that shows oxygen concentration vs. film depth. The presence of the “oxygen effect” in thermomechanical behavior is found to be correlated with an increased oxygen concentration near the film/passivation and film/barrier interfaces.