Aluminum metallization for flat-panel displays using ion-beam-assisted physical vapor deposition

Failures in aluminum interconnects in display control devices are often cau sed by the formation of hillocks during postdeposition annealing. Ion-beam- assisted deposition was used to create a (110) out-of-plane texture in alum inum films to suppress hillocking. X-ray diffraction was used to quantify t he (110)/(111) out-of-plane texture ratio, and scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy were used to characterize the surface topology . Results show that no hillocks were observed on (110)-textured aluminum fi lms following annealing for 30 min at 450 degrees C. Following annealing, t he resistivity of the films made by ion-beam-assisted deposition recovered to within a factor of 2 of the physical-vapor-deposition films. Results sho w that ion-beam-assisted deposition can effectively modify the aluminum out -of-plane texture in such a way that hillock suppression can be achieved wi thout significant change in resistivity.