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Acta Metall Sin  2017, Vol. 53 Issue (1): 31-37    DOI: 10.11900/0412.1961.2016.00082
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Microstructure and Thermal Stability of MoC DopedRu-Based Alloy Films as Seedless Diffusion Barrier
Jianxiong ZOU1,Bo LIU1(),Liwei LIN1,Ding REN1,Guohua JIAO2,Yuanfu LU2,Kewei XU3
1 Key Laboratory of Radiation Physics and Technology of Ministry of Education, Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, China
2 Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
3 State key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China
Cite this article: 

Jianxiong ZOU,Bo LIU,Liwei LIN,Ding REN,Guohua JIAO,Yuanfu LU,Kewei XU. Microstructure and Thermal Stability of MoC DopedRu-Based Alloy Films as Seedless Diffusion Barrier. Acta Metall Sin, 2017, 53(1): 31-37.

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Abstract  

Cu has been adopted to replace Al for conduction lines and contact structures in very large-scale integrated circuits due to its low resistivity. However, Cu could rapidly react with the SiO2-based dielectric under 300 ℃ and form deep level impurities which are strong sink for carriers, leading to the dielectric degradation of the devices. Therefore, it is important to insert a stable barrier between the Cu wiring and SiO2-based dielectric for suppressing Cu diffusion and improving the adhesive strength. The prediction of international technology roadmap for semiconductors that the thickness of diffusion barrier would be further reduced to 3 nm for 22 nm technology node indicates the widely being used Ta/TaN barrier would be incompetent in the future, since Ta/TaN barrier at the limited thickness exhibits a high resistivity and a columnar grain structure which provides lots of vertical grain boundaries for Cu diffusion. Therefore a directly platable amorphous single barrier with low resistivity is highly desired. In this work, MoC are chosen as impurity to expect for amorphous Ru-based films. The RuMoC films with different components were deposited by RF magnetron co-sputtering with different deposition power ratios of MoC versus Ru targets. The sheet resistances, microstructures and components of the RuMoC films in RuMoC/Si and Cu/RuMoC/p-SiOC∶H/Si structures were studied. The sheet resistances, residual oxygen contents and microstructures of the RuMoC films have close correlation with the doping contents of Mo and C elements which can be easily controlled by tuning the deposition power on MoC target. When the deposition power ratio of MoC versus Ru targets was 0.5, amorphous RuMoC II film with low sheet resistance and residual oxygen content was obtained. After annealing at 500 ℃ the Mo-C and Ru-C bonds were well-preserved and co-suppressed the recrystallization of the film and the increasing of the oxygen content, contributing to excellent thermal stability and electrical properties of Cu/RuMoC II/p-SiOC∶H/Si film.

Key words:  amorphous RuMoC film      seedless diffusion barrier      thermal stability      Cu metallization     
Received:  09 March 2016     
Fund: Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos.11075112 and 11605116), Shenzhen Industry Development Fund Project (Nos.JCYJ20150925163313898 and JCYJ20140417113130693) and Shenzhen Engineering Laboratory Project (No.2012-1127)

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https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/10.11900/0412.1961.2016.00082     OR     https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/Y2017/V53/I1/31

Fig.1  Evolution of the compositions and sheet resistance of RuMoC films obtained at different deposition power ratios (PMoC/PRu) (PMoC, PRu—sputtering powers of MoC and Ru targets)
Fig.2  GIXRD patterns of as-deposited Ru (100 nm)/Si, RuMoC I (100 nm)/Si and RuMoC II (100 nm)/Si samples (a), and HRTEM image and Fourier transform (inset) of as-deposited RuMoC II (100 nm)/Si film (b)
Fig.3  Sheet resistances of samples A and B as a function of annealing temperatures (Sample A—Cu/RuMoC II (5 nm)/p-SiOC∶H (200 nm)/Si, Sample B—Cu/Ru (5 nm)/p-SiOC∶H (200 nm)/Si)
Fig.4  GIXRD patterns of sample A (a) and B (b) as-deposited and annealed at different temperatures
Fig.5  XPS spectra of C1s (a), Ru3d (b) and O1s (c) from as-deposited and 500 ℃ annealed RuMoC II samples
Bond Fitting peak Binding energy / eV A0 / % At / % Ref.
C1s C-Ru 280.8 22.1% 21.1 [26]
C-Mo 281.8 68.7% 70.9 [27]
C-C 284.8 9.2% 8.0 [28]
O1s MoOx 530.5 18.0% 17.0 [29]
RuOx 531.8 82.0% 83.0 [30]
Ru3d Ru-C 279.2 (Ru3d5/2) 5.9 (Ru3d5/2) 5.6 (Ru3d5/2) [26]
283.6 (Ru3d3/2)
Ru 280.2 (Ru3d5/2) 92.3 (Ru3d5/2) 90.7 (Ru3d5/2) [26,28,30]
285.0 (Ru3d3/2)
RuOx 281.8 (Ru3d5/2) 1.8 (Ru3d5/2) 3.7 (Ru3d5/2) [29~31]
286.2 (Ru3d3/2)
Table 1  Binding energy of fitting peaks and area percentages of C1s, Ru3d and O1s XPS spectra from RuMoC II film
Fig.6  J-E curves of as-deposited and 500 ℃ annealed sample A and 400 ℃ annealed sample B (J—current density, E—electric field intensity)
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