Surface oxide reduction and bilayer molecular assembly of a thiol-terminated organosilane on Cu

Abstract

We demonstrate the use of thiol-terminated organosilane to reduce the surface oxide and form a protective layer on Cu surfaces. The thiol termini of mercapto-propyl-trimethoxy-silane molecules reduce the copper oxide, and release disulfide- and sulfonate-terminated silanes. Unreacted mercaptosilanes and disulfides then assemble on the clean Cu surface forming a monolayer via chemisorption. The outward pointing methoxy groups react with other methoxysilane termini of sulfonated- and unreacted organosilanes, forming a molecular bilayer with Si–O–Si linkages between the two layers. These findings open up new possibilities for surface cleaning and passivating Cu interconnects with molecular nanolayers, and minimize surface-scattering-induced conductivity decrease in nanometer-thick Cu lines, without destructively etching the surface Cu oxide.