The effects of impurities, Mn or Al, on interface and grain boundary electromigration (EM) in Cu damascene lines were investigated. The addition of Mn or Al solute caused a reduction in diffusivity at the Cu/dielectric cap interface and the EM activation energies for both Cu-alloys were found to increase by about 0.2 eV as compared to pure Cu. Mn mitigated and Al enhanced Cu grain boundary diffusion; however, no significant mitigation in Cu grain boundary diffusion was observed in low Mn concentration samples. The activation energies for Cu grain boundary diffusion were found to be 0.74 ± 0.05 eV and 0.77 ± 0.05 eV for 1.5 μm wide polycrystalline lines with pure Cu and Cu (0.5 at. % Mn) seeds, respectively. The effective charge number in Cu grain boundaries Z*GB was estimated from drift velocity and was found to be about −0.4. A significant enhancement in EM lifetimes for Cu(Al) or low Mn concentration bamboo-polycrystalline and near-bamboo grain structures was observed but not for polycrystalline-only alloy lines. These results indicated that the existence of bamboo grains in bamboo-polycrystalline lines played a critical role in slowing down the EM-induced void growth rate. The bamboo grains act as Cu diffusion blocking boundaries for grain boundary mass flow, thus generating a mechanical stress-induced back flow counterbalancing the EM force, which is the equality known as the “Blech short length effect.”

Electromigration (EM) lifetimes and void growth of pure Cu, Cu(Mn) alloy, and pure Cu damascene lines with a CoWP cap were measured as a function of grain structure (bamboo, near bamboo, and polycrystalline) and sample temperature. The bamboo grains in a bamboo-polycrystalline grained line play the key role in reducing Cu mass flow. The variation in Cu grain size distribution among the wafers was achieved by varying the metal line height and wafer annealing process step after electroplating Cu and before or after chemical mechanical polishing. The Cu grain size was found to have a large impact on Cu EM lifetime and activation energy, especially for the lines capped with CoWP. The EM activation energy for pure Cu with a CoWP cap from near-bamboo, bamboo-polycrystalline, mostly polycrystalline to polycrystalline only line grain structures was reduced from 2.2 + 0.2 eV, to 1.7 + 0.1 eV, to 1.5 + 0.1 eV, to 0.72 + 0.05 eV, respectively. The effect of Mn in Cu grain boundary diffusion was found to be dependent on Mn concentration in Cu. The depletion of Cu at the cathode end of the Cu(Mn) line is preceded by an incubation period. Unlike pure Cu lines with void growth at the cathode end and hillocks at the anode end of the line, the hillocks grew at a starting position roughly equal to the Blech critical length from the cathode end of the Cu(Mn) polycrystalline line. The effectiveness of Mn on Cu grain boundary migration can also be qualitatively accounted for by a simple trapping model. The free migration of Cu atoms at grain boundaries is reduced by the presence of Mn due to Cu-solute binding. A large binding energy of 0.5 + 0.1 eV was observed.

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