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Annealed metallic bilayers consisting of Cu/Al/SiO2 are studied from the perspective of providing both surface passivation and diffusion barrier/adhesion promoter function for advanced copper based metallization. Upon annealing this bilayer film at 400 °C or higher, enough Al dissolves into the Cu to provide substantial oxidation resistance at the copper surface. The resistivity of these annealed films is approximately 4.5 μΩ cm. Compared to films of pure copper, these bilayer films are much more adherent to SiO2 and much more stable (both morphology and diffusion) on SiO2.

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Copper thin films were exposed to a dilute silane mixture at temperatures in the range of 190–363 °C. The resulting silicide surface layers were characterized by four-point probe, Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, and x-ray diffraction. A definitive stability regime is observed in which progressively higher copper content phases exist with increasing temperature. Cu3Si, formed in silane, on annealing converts to Cu5Si and eventually to no silicide layer by a silicon diffusion reaction that in an inert ambient drives silicon into underlying copper to form a solid solution. In oxidizing ambients, a similar phenomenon occurs but now silicon also diffuses to surfaces where it oxidizes to form a self-passivating SiO2 layer on surface. These results have important implications governing integration of copper silicide as a passivation layer and silicon hydride based dielectric deposition in copper-based multilevel interconnect in ultralarge scale integration.

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