ELECTRON-MICROSCOPY STUDIES OF ION-IMPLANTED SILICON FOR SEEDING ELECTROLESS COPPER-FILMS

The feasibility of ion implantation induced electroless copper plating as an effective technique for micro electromechanical systems fabrica tion was explored by our group recently. This paper aims at investigat ing such implanted surfaces in order to understand the mechanism assis ting the plating. Si was implanted with Pd+ ions at an ion energy of 1 9 keV in a metal vapour vacuum are (MEVVA) implanter. The implantation dose ranged between 7x10(14) and 2x10(17) ions/cm(2). The substrates were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transm ission electron microscopy (TEM). TEM studies on these substrates indi cated that implanted ions tend to form metallic clusters or agglomerat es in the substrate. The electroless films nucleate at these clusters. An attempt was made to establish a relationship between implantation dose and cluster size. The topology of the electroless plated films wa s examined under SEM and the results are discussed in detail. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(98)05210-4].