A self-aligned, electrochemically integrated seeding/plating approach is developed for fabricating patterns of cobalt-͑or nickel-͒ based metallic barriers and copper films selectively on silicon-based dielectric ͑hybrid siloxane-organic polymer and SiO 2 ) films using electroless plating. High-resolution X-ray absorption spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and grazing-incidence X-ray diffractometry indicate that, after they have been appropriately pretreated by a gaseous plasma (O 2 or H 2 /N 2 ) and basic aqueous solutions that contain sufficient amounts of peroxide hydrogen (H 2 O 2 ), the dielectric films can adsorb highly populated metallic ͑nickel or cobalt͒ precipitates of sizes between 2 and 4 nm, which catalyze the deposition of ultrathin ͑р20 nm͒ barriers. The barriers are initially highly resistive and contain ultrafine ͑3-5 nm͒ crystallites embedded in amorphous-like, 20 nm grains, but become highly conductive ͑50-80 ⍀-cm͒ following optimal annealing at temperatures у470°C because of crystallization, grain growth, and precipitation of Co 2 P. Finally, the capacity of this method to fabricate ''self-aligned'' patterns of barrier and copper is established, and the adhesion strength and effectiveness of the barriers against copper's diffusion/drift are quantified. The importance of the plasma pretreatment and the use of hydrogen peroxide ͑in the SC-1 solution͒ is also addressed.

Optical properties of very narrow GaInAs/InP quantum wells grown by lowpressure metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy Appl. Phys. Lett. 52, 872 (1988); 10.1063/1.99258 High quality narrow GaInAs/InP quantum wells grown by atmospheric organometallic vapor phase epitaxy Appl. Phys. Lett. 49, 1384 (1986); 10.1063/1.97625 GaInAs/InP quantum wells grown by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy