Suppression of Cu Oxidation Using Environmentally Friendly Inhibitors under Conditions of High Temperature and High Humidity for Cu/Low-k

Abstract

The Cu surface at a via bottom is exposed to conditions of high temperature and high humidity during annealing after the via hole for Cu/low-k interconnection is cleaned. The Cu surface is oxidized by the water desorbed from the low-k film. The suppression of Cu corrosion is a necessary process. Benzotriazole (BTA) has been used as a conventional Cu corrosion inhibitor, but it has a large environmental impact. An environmentally friendly inhibitor to replace BTA is required. In this study, adenine and hypoxanthine are used as environmentally friendly Cu corrosion inhibitors. We have succeeded in effectively suppressing Cu corrosion under conditions of high temperature and high humidity using adenine and hypoxanthine. We have also investigated the desorption temperature of Cu corrosion inhibitor films by thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS). We have found that adenine and hypoxanthine are stable inhibitors during annealing. Moreover, it is clear from impedance measurements that adenine and hypoxanthine inhibitor films are thinner than BTA films. Adenine and hypoxanthine can readily be applied to next-generation LSI devices.