METALLIZATION OF SUBMICRON TRENCHES AND VIAS WITH HIGH-ASPECT-RATIO

Highly ionized and accelerated vapor, produced by a pulsed high curren t vacuum are evaporator (HCA [1]) was used to metallize submicrometer structures. Due to the nearly 100% ionization, the high kinetic energy of the ions and the predominantly directed movement of the plasma par ticles, deep trenches (in the first experiments with an aspect ratio o f up to 2) and vias can be filled homogeneously without voids. A depos ition rate of about 100 nm/s can be obtained. In comparison to the tra ditional are process, the number and the size of droplets are strongly reduced by a specific pulse regime. By a specially designed filter ar rangement in a new set-up (phi-HCA), just under casting, a droplet-fre e filling can be realized. The efficiency of the method and the qualit y of the metallization is demonstrated for different target materials, such as aluminum and copper. Published by Elsevier Science S.A.