The Influence of Pulsed Electroplating Frequency and Duty Cycle on Copper Film Microstructure and Stress State

Published

January 1, 2017

Author(s)

James Marro, Taghi Darroudi, Kathleen C. Richardson, Yaw S. Obeng, Chukwudi A. Okoro

Abstract

In this work we studied the impact of pulse electroplating parameters on the cross-sectional and surface microstructures of blanket copper films using electron backscattering diffraction and x-ray diffraction. The films evaluated were highly (111) textured in the direction perpendicular to the film surface. The degree of preferential orientation was found to decrease with longer pulse on-times, due to strain energy driven growth of other grain orientations. Residual biaxial stresses were also measured in the films and higher pulse frequencies during deposition led to smaller biaxial stresses in the films. Film stress was also found to correlate with the amount of twinning in the copper film cross-sections. This has been attributed to the twins' thermal stability and mechanical properties. This appears to be a new observation as it has not been previously reported in the open literature.

Citation

Thin Solid Films

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

Copper, Films, Microstructure, Pulsed Electrochemical Deposition, Twins, Orientation, Stress

Citation

Marro, J. , Darroudi, T. , Richardson, K. , Obeng, Y. and Okoro, C. (2017), The Influence of Pulsed Electroplating Frequency and Duty Cycle on Copper Film Microstructure and Stress State, Thin Solid Films (Accessed December 8, 2024)