Cu has become the subject of major interest as a promising interconnection material because it has lower resistivity than Al. However, Cu is oxidized more easily than Al. In this study, we have investigated the dependence of the Cu oxidation on heat treatment temperature, and five materials, Ti, TiN, Cr, TiW, and TiWN, were examined as candidates for an oxidation-barrier metal on the Cu films.
The Cu film was oxidized at temperatures higher than 170°C in air. Among the five materials, the Cr and TiWN films acted as good barrier metals to prevent the xygen diffusion. However, hillocks were observed at Cr surface after sputtering deposition process, and the surface morphology was degraded after heat treatment. Consequently, TiWN is considered to be the best barrier metal.
We used the TiWN films to fabricate a fine TiWN/Cu/TiWN multilayer interconnection. We then confirmed that the TiWN film acted as a barrier metal to prevent Cu oxidation during the resist ashing process, and that ECR plasma-CVD was a useful method of depositing passivation SiO
2 film on the interconnection without oxidizing the Cu surface.
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