Growth rate and microstructure of copper thin films deposited with metal-organic chemical vapor deposition from hexafluoroacetylacetonate copper(I) allyltrimethylsilane

Metal-organic chemical vapor deposition of copper using the copper(I) compo und, (hfac)Cu(ATMS) (hfac = hexafluoroacetylacetonate, ATMS = allyltrimethy lsilane) as a precursor, was carried out on TiN surface over a substrate te mperature range of 60 similar to 275 degrees C. It was found that the depos ition temperature could be substantially lower compared with (hfac)Cu(VTMS) (VTMS = vinyltrimethylsilane). In the substrate temperatures ranging from 60 to 90 degrees C, the Arrhenius plot showed a reaction-rate-limited regim e with an activation energy of 15.0 kcal/mol. Above 90 degrees C, the depos ition rate showed a feed-rate-limited regime with an activation energy of 0 .1 kcal/mol. The copper films contained no detectable impurities by Auger e lectron spectroscopy and gave resistivities below 2.0 mu Omega cm in the te mperature range of 125 similar to 170 degrees C. As substrate temperature i ncreased, the small-grained, smooth and continuous film structure changed t o large-grained and rough film structure that was poorly connected and resu lted in high resistivities. The polycrystalline phases with a preferred ori entation of (111) and loss of selectivity were observed over a wide range o f substrate temperatures. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserve d.