Metal vapor vacuum arc ion implantation for seeding of electroless Cu plating

Abstract

A metal vapor vacuum arc (MEVVA) ion source has been used to implant Pd into SiO 2 substrates. The ion implanted area formed a seeding layer on which a Cu film was successfully plated through an electroless plating process. It was found that the required Pd dose for Cu plating to occur is on the order of 3×10 15 cm −2 when the implantation was performed with a 20 kV extraction voltage. Taking advantage of the large pulsed ion current capability (up to 1 A) of the MEVVA ion source, the needed Pd dose for seeding was achieved in minutes. With direct Pd implantation, an intermediate activation step using PdCl 2 solution can be eliminated. The Cu plating rate was not a sensitive function of temperature and no incubation period was found in our experiments.