Molecular dynamics-based ion-surface interaction models for ionized physical vapor deposition feature scale simulations

A procedure is presented for incorporating the results of atomistic simulat ions of ion-surface interactions into integrated circuit topographic simula tions of ionized physical vapor deposition (PVD). Energy and angular depend ent sticking probabilities for energetic Cu atoms impacting a {111} Cu surf ace, obtained from molecular dynamics simulations, were implemented in a si mple Monte Carlo flux model. The resulting flux-averaged Cu sticking probab ility was found to vary significantly with position within submicron featur es and with the feature geometry. This illustrates the shortcomings of a co nstant (energy and angle independent) sticking probability model for ionize d PVD. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(98)02652-7].