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Investigation of RuZn alloy as barrier to Cu interconnect

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Abstract

Ru is an excellent adhesion layer to copper and possible conductor material yet it has poor barrier properties and poor adhesion with SiO2. In this work, a novel self-formed barrier, RuZn with around 0.3 at.% Zn has been prepared by sputtering and following annealing. Its adhesion property with SiO2 and thermal stability are much improved. A very high average value of 42.42 J/m2 for the interface fracture energy between RuZn and SiO2 can be obtained through an improved four-point bending method. Results show that during the annealing, Zn from the RuZn migrates to the Ru/SiO2 interface and Zn2SiO4 forms at the Ru/SiO2 interface, which inhibits the diffusion of Cu as well as improves the adhesion.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC-61574047). The author Peng Wang appreciates help from Mr. Xu Tang from the Institute of geology and geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in the TEM results analysis.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC-61574047).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Lab of ASIC and System, School of Microelectronics, Fudan University, 220 Handan Rd, Shanghai, 200433, People’s Republic of China

    Peng Wang & Xin-Ping Qu

  2. Lam Research Corporation, Fremont, CA, USA

    Yezdi Dordi & Aniruddha Joi

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  1. Peng Wang
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Contributions

PW: Conceptualization, investigation, visualization, formal analysis, writing—original draft. XPQ: Project administration, resources, methodology, validation, writing—review and editing. YD: Resources, writing—review and editing. AJ: Resources, writing—review and editing. All authors discussed the results and revised the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Xin-Ping Qu.

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Wang, P., Qu, XP., Dordi, Y. et al. Investigation of RuZn alloy as barrier to Cu interconnect. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 33, 6318–6328 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-022-07806-9

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