The corrosion inhibition performance and mechanism of α-benzoin oxime on copper: A comprehensive study of experiments and DFT calculations

Abstract

Copper corrosion poses a significant challenge to process stability and chip quality in the field of integrated circuit manufacturing. This study comprehensively explored the corrosion inhibition performance of α-benzoin oxime (bzoxH2) on copper, by employing a combination of experimental methods and computational chemistry. First, after the addition of 0.1 mM bzoxH2, the static etching rate and surface roughness of copper were decreased to 7 Å·min−1 and 1.36 nm, respectively, which indicated that bzoxH2 could reduce the corrosion rate of copper and improve its surface quality. Subsequently, electrochemical behavior analysis showed that the addition of 0.1 mM bzoxH2 resulted in an increase in open circuit potential to 0.185 V, a decrease in corrosion current density to 2.33 µA·cm−2, an increase in polarization resistance to 10589 Ω·cm2, and a high corrosion inhibition efficiency of 96.88 %, suggesting that bzoxH2 significantly enhances the corrosion resistance of copper. Furthermore, studies based on adsorption isotherm models indicated that the adsorption behavior of bzoxH2 on the copper surface formed a dense passivation film through the combination of physical and chemical adsorption mechanisms. This effectively enhanced the corrosion resistance of copper and provided robust protection against corrosion. Finally, the use of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy technology, along with an in-depth exploration of the geometric structure and chemical reactivity of the bzoxH2 molecule, revealed its complex interaction with specific active sites on the copper surface. These findings provided valuable theoretical insights, along with practical guidance for the development of metal corrosion inhibitors.