The invention is directed to the manufacture of semiconductor devices, such as integrated circuits (ICs), and in particular, methods of forming copper interconnections and ICs that comprise such interconnects.
The use of copper-containing interconnections in semiconductor devices is increasingly popular because of copper's low electrical resistance and superior resistance to electromigration, as compared to aluminum containing interconnects. The process of forming copper interconnections in not without problems, however. Copper is not amenable to conventional etching and patterning processes, such as those used for aluminum. Consequently, copper interconnects are formed using single or dual damascence processes, where an opening in an insulating layer is filled with copper.
The process of filling the single or dual damascence opening with copper includes an electrochemical deposition (ECD) process. Typically, a semiconductor wafer is placed into a copper-containing electrolyte solution and a current is applied to plate copper into the opening. The formation of a high yield of copper interconnects having sufficiently low electrical resistance is highly dependent upon the applied current and the composition of the electrolyte solution used in the ECD process. For example, the current is carefully adjusted to control the rate of copper plating. The concentration of organic additives in the electrolyte solution is also carefully adjusted to control the grain structure and growth rate of deposited copper. Nevertheless, problems can still arise with the reliability of the semiconductor devices, as reflected by an increase in resistance of a number interconnects after a period of use.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a method of manufacturing semiconductor devices having high yields of low resistance copper interconnects that are also reliable.
The invention provides, in one embodiment, a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device. The method comprises forming an insulating layer over a semiconductive substrate and forming a copper interconnect. Forming the interconnect includes etching an interconnect opening in the insulating layer and filling the opening with copper plating. Filling with copper plating includes using a first ECD and a second ECD. An electrolyte solution of the first and second ECD contains organic additives, and a current of the first ECD is greater than a current of the second ECD.
Another embodiment is a method of manufacturing an IC. The method comprises forming electrical components in or on a substrate and depositing an insulating layer on the substrate. The method also comprises forming copper interconnects configured to couple the electrical components together. Forming the copper interconnects includes etching an interconnect opening in the insulating layer, depositing a barrier layer and a seed layer in the opening and filling the opening with copper as described above. The electrolyte solution of the first and second ECD contains organic additives comprising at least one of: suppressors, accelerators or levelers.
Still another embodiment is an IC. The IC comprises electrical components located in or on a substrate, an insulating layer located over the electrical components, and copper interconnects in the insulating layer. The copper interconnects are configured to interconnect the electrical components. There is a higher concentration of organic additive by-products in a central location than in a peripheral location of at least one of the interconnects.
The invention is described with reference to example embodiments and to accompanying drawings, wherein:
The invention benefits from the discovery that the reliability of copper interconnects can be improved by increasing the concentration of organic additive by-products present in the copper interconnect by decreasing the current at a particular stage in an ECD process. The organic additive by-products help improve the grain structure of the plated copper and thereby facilitate the formation of interconnects that are more reliable than interconnects constructed in the presence of lower by-product concentrations. The ECD process comprises at least two-steps: a first step with a high first current to initiate copper plating, followed by a second step with a lower second current to promote by-product formation. Semiconductor devices produced using a fabrication scheme including these steps have a high yield of low-resistance and reliable interconnects.
The term high yield as used here refers to the percentage of interconnects that have an acceptable low resistance shortly after semiconductor device fabrication. Device fabrication schemes require that a large percentage of the interconnects have a low resistance. Typically the resistance of the interconnects is characterized by measuring the resistance of vias that are electrically coupled to the interconnects. The vials resistance at the moment of complete fabrication must be below a target value to pass a failure mode test. The term yielding interconnect as used herein refers to a completely fabricated interconnect with a via resistance measured to be below a specified target. E.g., in some embodiments, at least about 99.98 percent of the vias tested have a resistance that is about 10 ohms or less. The term reliable interconnect as used herein refers to interconnects whose resistance does not substantially change after a period of use or simulated aging. E.g., some embodiments of a device fabrication scheme require that after a thermal bake comprising 200° C. for 168 hours, the resistance of at least 99.98 percent of the interconnects have changed by less than about 20 percent. In other embodiments, after a thermal bake comprising 200° C. for 1000 hours, the resistance of at least 99.56 percent of the interconnects have changed by less than about 50 percent. Those of ordinary skill in the art are familiar with conventional quality assurance monitoring procedures to measure yield and reliability.
One embodiment of the invention is a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device.
The insulating layer 105 can comprise any conventional dielectric material, such as silicon dioxide, silicon carbonitride, organo-silicate glass (OSG), fluorosilicate (FSG) tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) or combinations thereof, including multi-layered combinations thereof. The insulating layer 105 can be formed using conventional techniques, such as Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition of silicon dioxide, or other dielectric materials, to a desired thickness (e.g., about 0.03 to 3 microns) under conditions known to those of ordinary skill in the art.
The electrolyte solution 520 also contains organic additives 540 to facilitate the growth of the copper plating 510 in the opening 210 without void formation in the opening 210. E.g., some embodiments of the organic additives 540 facilitate the formation of copper plating 510 from the bottom of the openings 210 upwards. Some examples of organic additives 540 comprise suppressors, accelerators or levelers. As known to those skilled in the art, these organic additives 540 can facilitate the deposition of copper with a tighter grain structure, suppress void formation in high-aspect-ratio openings, and enable planarization over topography.
The first current 530 is configured to initiate and maintain the plating of copper on the seed layer 410 for a period, and thereby produce high yields of low resistance interconnects. The first current may also cause incorporation of a first amount of organic additive by-products 545 in the first copper plating 510. As part of the present invention, it was discovered that the magnitude of first current 530 conducive to initiating and maintaining copper plating does not produce sufficient amounts of by-products 545 to facilitate the production of more reliable interconnects.
The second current 620 is conducted in a way to incorporate higher amounts of organic additive by-products while maintaining the copper plating process. E.g., a second amount of organic additive by-products 630 produced in the second copper plating 610 is greater than the first amount of by-products 545 in the first copper plating 510 (
In certain embodiments, a ratio of the first ECD current 530 to second ECD current 620 (
It is advantageous for the openings 210 to be predominantly filled with the second copper plating 610 having the higher amount of by-product 630 therein. This is beneficial for interconnects 200 that are particularly susceptible to failure modes, such as stress migration (e.g., wide metal lines, greater than 3 microns, connected to isolated vias), because high concentrations of by-products 630 promote the formation of desirable copper grain structures in the opening 210. E.g., in some embodiments, a ratio of a thickness 640 of the second copper plating 610 to a thickness 650 of first copper plating 510 ranges from about 3:1 to 5:1. To achieve such thickness ratios, it is preferable for a ratio of Coulombs applied during the second ECD step versus the first ECD step to equal the desired thickness ratio (e.g., a Coulomb ratio ranging from about 3:1 to 5:1).
Consider an example embodiment where the first ECD step 512 comprises a first current 530 of about 7 Amps for about 7 seconds, corresponding to about 49 Coulombs, and resulting in a copper thickness 650 of about 27 nm. The second ECD step 612 comprises a second current 620 of about 3 Amps for about 70 seconds corresponds to about 210 Coulombs, resulting in a copper thickness 640 equal to about 114 nm. The Coulomb ratio (second ECD step to first ECD step) equals about 4:1, as does the thickness ratio.
In such embodiments, the substrate 110 is kept in the same electrolyte solution 520 as used to deposit the first and second copper plating 510, 610, although a different electrolyte solution could be used, if desired. The third current 720 is substantially greater than the first or second currents 530, 620. In certain embodiments, the third current 720 is at least about 2 times greater than the first current 530. In other embodiments a ratio of the third current 720 to the first current 530 ranges from about 2:1 to 10:1. It is desirable to rapidly deposit a thick layer of the third copper plating so as to minimize the total time required for copper plating (e.g., less than about 2 min in some cases).
A ratio of the thickness 730 of the third copper plating 710 to the thickness 650 of the first plating 510 (
The IC 1000 comprises electrical components 1002 (e.g., transistors) located in or on a substrate 1005, an insulating layer 1010 located over the electrical components 1002, and copper interconnects 1015 (e.g., vias, lines or trenches) located in the insulating layer 1010. The copper interconnects 1015 are configured to interconnect the electrical components 1002. There can also be additional insulating layers 1020 and vias 1025 (e.g., aluminum vias) that are configured to facilitate the connection between the electrical components 1002.
There is a higher concentration of organic additive by-products 1030 in a central location 1032 than in a peripheral location 1034 of at least one of the interconnects 1015. The term central location 1032 as used herein refers to an interior portion of the interconnect that does not contact the walls 1036 or bottom 1038 of the interconnect 1015. E.g., in some embodiments, the central location 1032 is separated from the walls 1036 or bottom 1038 by a distance 1040 of at least about 200 nm. This is in contrast to the peripheral location 1034, which contacts the walls 1036 and bottom 1038.
The organic additive by-products 1030 are generated during the electrochemical deposition of copper from an electrolyte solution of the first and said second ECD steps that contain organic additives as discussed above. Example organic additives include a sulfur-based organic molecule such as bis (sodiumsulfopropyl) disulfide (SPS) as an accelerator, a polyether such as polyethylene glycol (PEG) or polypropylene glycol (PPG) as a suppressor, and generally a polymer or nitrogen-based molecule such as Janus Green B (JGB) or thioruea, as a leveler. In some cases the organic additive by-products 1030 are generated from organic additives that comprise disulfides, thio-disulfides or poly-ethylene glycol.
The amount of organic additive by-products 1030 incorporated can be characterized by measuring concentrations of chloride, sulfur, or carbon in the interconnects 1015. Those skilled in the art understand how to measure concentrations of these elements at different locations in an interconnect, or in test copper layers designed to simulate an interconnect, using e.g., dynamic Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (SIMS).
In certain embodiments, organic additive by-products 1030 are characterized by a concentration of chloride, sulfur, or carbon of at least about 100 ppm (by weight) in the central location 1032 of the interconnect 1015. In some cases the central location 1032 has from 10 to 800 ppm of chloride, 10 to 800 ppm of carbon and 10 to 800 ppm of sulfur. In other embodiments, a total concentration of chloride, sulfur, or carbon in the central location 1032 ranges from 10 to 1800 ppm. In still other embodiments, a ratio of chloride, sulfur, or carbon in the central location 1032 versus the peripheral location 1034 ranges from about 3:1 to 4:1.
A high-low profile 1105 corresponds to the profile obtained for the interconnect 1015 (
Those skilled in the art understand that the relative magnitude and exact shape of the profiles 1105, 1110, 1115, depend on numerous fabrication-specific factors, including the duration and magnitude of the applied currents, the types and amounts of organic additives used, and whether the profile is measured before or after the interconnect is subjected to a thermal anneal. E.g., in some cases the high-low by-product concentration profile 1105 depicted in
Returning to
In some embodiments, the interconnect 1015 has a width 1060 of at least about 3 microns, and in other cases ranges from 3 to 35 microns. A narrower interconnect 1065 (e.g., having a width 1070 of about 1 micron or less in some cases, and in other cases, from about 0.1 to 0.5 microns) does not have higher by-product 1030 concentrations in its central location 1032 because the interconnect is substantially filled with only the first copper plating 1050. One skilled in the art understand that the width 1060 that is conducive to forming high central by-product concentrations depends on numerous fabrication-specific factors, including the thicknesses of the barrier layer, the seed layer, and the first and second copper plating, as well as the types and amounts of organic additives used.
Interconnects 1015 having the higher central concentration of by-products 1032 are more reliable than interconnects of similar dimension and composition but without the higher by-product concentration.
Consider, as an example, copper interconnects 1015 constructed to have a width 1060 of about 3 or about 4.4 microns and having copper plating that comprises a high-low profile 1105 of by-products 1030 (
The resistance of the interconnects 1015 constructed with the high-low profile 1105 was assessed by measuring the resistance of vias electrically coupled to the interconnects 1015. A via resistance of about 10 ohms or less was obtained for about 99.98% of the vias tested. The resistance of 99.87 percent the vias electrically connected to metal lines of about 4.4 microns changed by less than about 50 percent after a thermal bake comprising 200° C. for about 1000 hours. In comparison, 1.6 percent of vias electrically connected to metal lines of about 4.4 microns constructed with the flat profile 1115 had an increase in resistance in excess of 50 percent after the same thermal bake.
Although the invention has been described in detail, those skilled in the art should understand that they could make various changes, substitutions and alterations herein without departing from the scope of the invention in its broadest form.