Electron backscatter diffraction analysis of electrodeposited nano-scale copper wires

Microstructural characteristics of electrodeposited damascene copper lines

“…Microstructure in the upper part of the lines seems to be relatively coarse grained (~150-200 nm). One of the possible explanations for this efect is downward penetration of the growing grains from the overburden layer [10,11]. As follows from variation of the STEM contrast as well as from the presence of thin extinction contours, the material is characterized by large internal stresses.…”

“…Despite signiicant industrial importance and considerable academic interest, microstructural observations in the nano-scale wires are still limited to a few examples [3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. It is important to emphasize that the analysis of nano-scale copper wires in most cases has been done on samples ater annealing, including suiciently detailed investigation [10,11], but, to the best of the authors' knowledge, there is no data about microstructure of nanoscale damascene copper lines before annealing, immediately ater electrodeposition; in other words, data in present work are likely to be regarded as a novelty. his work presents an analysis of microstructure and texture in as-deposited copper wires as well as ater annealing in an attempt to establish a better understanding of the grain-growth behaviour in these materials.…”