A simple equation for predicting superconformal electrodeposition in submicrometer trenches

We present a single variable first-order differential equation for predicti ng the occurrence of superconformal electrodeposition. The equation presume s that the dependence of deposition rate on surface coverage of the acceler ator is known (e.g., derived from voltammetry experiments)on planar electro des. A simplified growth geometry, based on the recently proposed mechanism of curvature enhanced accelerator coverage, is used to permit simplificati on of the trench-filling problem. The resulting solution is shown to reduce computational time from hours to seconds, while yielding reasonably accura te predictions of the parameter values required for trench filling. (C) 200 1 The Electrochemical Society.