Since
the discovery of graphene, 2D materials are establishing
a rapidly growing and promising field, with great potential for diverse
applications given their excellent conductivity and high transparency.
In particular, graphene can isolate external chemical reactions when
applied to back-end-of-line (BEOL) interconnect metals, thereby preventing
the oxidation of the interconnect metals. In addition, it can improve
the conductivity and breakdown current density of interconnects. However,
the thermal budget remains an important problem in BEOL interconnects.
We demonstrate an advanced graphene deposition method using an in-house
plasma plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition system, which offers
low thermal budget and high stability. We also optimize carbon precursors
to improve the quality of graphene on Ru and Co thin films. We show
the improvement of electrical conductivity, electromigration lifetime,
and maximum breakdown current density after capping Ru and Co interconnects
with graphene. The electromigration lifetimes of the Ru and Co interconnects
increase by 4 and 4.5 times, respectively, and their maximum breakdown
current density increases by 17.6 and 10.6%, respectively. The results
show that capping with graphene has a high potential in BEOL applications.