Texture Evolution in Thin Cu Films and Lines

Field, David P.; Sanchez, John E.; Park, No Jin; Besser, Paul R.

doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/msf.495-497.1323

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Table I indicates that this texture transition is not as rapid as for ECD Cu layers, which is confirmed by other studies. 5,21 Remarkably, the 1,000 nm PVD Cu layer showed a slow microstructure evolution and about 15% of the fine-grained microstructure were recrystallized within 1.5 years after deposition. This grain growth is assumed to originate from an induced self-annealing process analogous to electroplated Cu thin films.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Influence of Ta-based Diffusion Barriers on the Microstructure of Copper Thin Films

Stangl

Fletcher

Acker

et al. 2007

Journal of Elec Materi

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Copper represents the most commonly used interconnect material in ultra large-scale integration (ULSI) technology. Given that the successful implementation of Cu requires the use of underlying diffusion barriers, these studies were focused on the influence of Ta-based barrier layers on the microstructure of physical vapor deposited (PVD) and electrochemically deposited (ECD) Cu thin films. The variation of a-Ta, b-Ta, TaSiN, and TaN as an underlayer caused a modification of the PVD Cu seed-layer texture, which also affected the microstructure of Cu electroplated on top of the seed layer, both before and after recrystallization at room temperature.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…[5][6][7][8][9][10] Hence, different barrier systems should also lead to changes of both initial PVD and ECD Cu texture. The present paper will discuss the effect of various barrier layers on the initial microstructure of PVD and freshly electroplated Cu thin films.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Ta-based Diffusion Barriers on the Microstructure of Copper Thin Films

Stangl

Fletcher

Acker

et al. 2007

Journal of Elec Materi

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“…This is attributed to electronic differences between twin boundaries and random high-angle grain boundaries. A greater understanding of these differences opens the door to engineer the material to promote specific grain boundaries over others to improve performance [33][34][35][36][37][38].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The correlation of performance in CdTe photovoltaics with grain boundaries

Nowell

Wright

Scarpulla

et al. 2012

2012 19th IEEE International Symposium on the Physical and Failure Analysis of Integrated Circuits

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It is assumed that the performance of polycrystalline CdTe photovoltaic thin films is correlated to microstructure, especially aspects of the microstructure related to grain boundaries.However the role of grain boundaries on the electrical performance of these films is not well understood. In an effort to gain understanding into the correlation between the performance and grain boundaries in CdTe thin films, electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) has been used to characterize the the grain size, grain boundary structure and texture of sputtered CdTe at varying deposition pressures before and after CdCl 2 treatment. Weak axisymmetric (or fiber) textures were observed in the as-deposited films. At lower deposition pressures (111) fiber textures were observed and (110) fiber textures were observed at higher lower deposition pressures. Samples treated with CdCl 2 exhibited significant grain growth with a high fraction of twin boundaries. A much stronger correlation of performance with grain size was found when the grain size was corrected to exclude the twin boundaries. This observation confirms that the twin boundaries do indeed have different electrical properties than random high-angle boundaries.

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“…It would be desirable to characterize grain boundaries according to those that are advantageous, disadvantageous, and neutral to cell performance. This would of course lead to the ability to engineer specific grain boundaries to improve performance (Fraas, 1978;Randle, 2010), which has been discussed for thin films previously (Field et al, 2005;Park et al, 2005;Park & Field, 2006).…”

Section: Correlation Of Device Performance With Measured Microstructuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of Sputtered CdTe Thin Films with Electron Backscatter Diffraction and Correlation with Device Performance

et al. 2015

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The performance of polycrystalline CdTe photovoltaic thin films is expected to depend on the grain boundary density and corresponding grain size of the film microstructure. However, the electrical performance of grain boundaries within these films is not well understood, and can be beneficial, harmful, or neutral in terms of film performance. Electron backscatter diffraction has been used to characterize the grain size, grain boundary structure, and crystallographic texture of sputtered CdTe at varying deposition pressures before and after CdCl2 treatment in order to correlate performance with microstructure. Weak fiber textures were observed in the as-deposited films, with (111) textures present at lower deposition pressures and (110) textures observed at higher deposition pressures. The CdCl2-treated samples exhibited significant grain recrystallization with a high fraction of twin boundaries. Good correlation of solar cell efficiency was observed with twin-corrected grain size while poor correlation was found if the twin boundaries were considered as grain boundaries in the grain size determination. This implies that the twin boundaries are neutral with respect to recombination and carrier transport.

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Texture Evolution in Thin Cu Films and Lines

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

Influence of Ta-based Diffusion Barriers on the Microstructure of Copper Thin Films

Influence of Ta-based Diffusion Barriers on the Microstructure of Copper Thin Films

The correlation of performance in CdTe photovoltaics with grain boundaries

Characterization of Sputtered CdTe Thin Films with Electron Backscatter Diffraction and Correlation with Device Performance

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