• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.16 no.10
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• pp.614-618
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• 2006

The thermal stability of Cu/Ti(or Ta)/NiSi contacts was investigated. Ti(Ta)-capping layers deposited to form NiSi was utilized as the Cu diffusion barrier. Ti(Ta)/NiSi contacts was thermally stable upto $600^{\circ}C$. However when Cu/Ti(Ta)/NiSi contacts were furnace-annealed at $300{\sim}400^{\circ}C$ for 40 min., the Cu diffusion was found to be effectively suppressed, but NiSi was dissociated and then Ni diffused into the Cu layer to form Cu-Ni solutions. On the other hand, the Ni diffusion did not occur for the Al/Ti/NiSi system. The thermal instability of Cu/Ti(Ta)/NiSi contacts was attributed to the high heat of solution of Ni in Cu.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.463-468
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• 2007

The interdiffusion characteristics of Cu-plug/Capping Layer/NiSi contacts were investigated. Capping layers were deposited on Ni/Si to form thermally-stable NiSi and then were utilized as diffusion barriers between Cu/NiSi contacts. Four different capping layers such as Ti, Ta, TiN, and TaN with varying thickness from 20 to 100 nm were employed. When Cu/NiSi contacts without barrier layers were furnace-annealed at $400^{\circ}C$ for 40 min., Cu diffused to the NiSi layer and formed $Cu_3Si$, and thus the NiSi layer was dissociated. But for Cu/Capping Layers/NiSi, the Cu diffusion was completely suppressed for all cases. But Ni was found to diffuse into the Cu layer to form the Cu-Ni(30at.%) solid solution, regardless of material and thickness of capping layers. The source of Ni was attributed to the unreacted Ni after the silicidation heat-treatment, and the excess Ni generated by the transformation of $Ni_2Si$ to NiSi during long furnace-annealing.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.735-740
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• 2005

The phase transformation of Ni-B diffusion barrier by Cu diffusion was studied. The Ni-B diffusion barrier, thickness of 10(Inn, was electrolessly deposited on the electroplated Cu interconnect. The specimens were annealed either in Ar atmosphere or in $H_2$ atmosphere from $300^{\circ}C\;to\;800^{\circ}C$ for 30min, respectively. Although the Ni-B coated specimens showed the decomposition of $Ni_3B$ above $400^{\circ}C$ in both Ar atmosphere and $H_2$ atmosphere, Ni-B powders did not show the decomposition of $Ni_3B$. The $Ni_3B$ was decomposed to Ni and B in hi atmospherr: and the metallic Ni formed the solid solution with Cu and the free B was oxidized to $B_2O_3$. However, both the boron hydride and free B were not observed in the diffusion barrier after the annealing in $H_2$ atmos There. These results revealed that the decomposition of $Ni_3B$ by Cu made the Cu diffusion continued toward the Ni-B diffusion barrier.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.338-343
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• 2010

As an alternative to the W plug used in MOSFETs, a Cu plug with a NiSi contact using Ta / TaN as a diffusion barrier is currently being considered. Conventionally, Ni was first deposited and then NiSi was formed, followed by the barrier and Cu deposition. In this study, Ti was employed as a barrier material and simultaneous formation of the NiSi contact and Cu plug / Ti barrier was attempted. Cu(100 nm) / Ti / Ni(20 nm) with varying Ti thicknesses were deposited on a Si substrate and annealed at $4000^{\circ}C$ for 30 min. For comparison, Cu/Ti/NiSi thin films were also formed by the conventional method. Optical Microscopy (OM), Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM), X-Ray Diffractometry (XRD), and Auger Electron Microscopy (AES) analysis were performed to characterize the inter-diffusion properties. For a Ti interlayer thicker than 50 nm, the NiSi formation was incomplete, although Cu diffusion was inhibited by the Ti barrier. For a Ti thickness of 20 nm and less, an almost stoichiometric NiSi contact along with the Cu plug and Ti barrier layers was formed. The results were comparable to that formed by the conventional method and showed that this alternative process has potential as a formation process for the Cu plug/Ti barrier/NiSi contact system.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.552-557
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• 2004

Thin Ni-B films, 1 ${\mu}m$ thick, were electrolessly deposited on Cu bus electrode fabricated by electro deposition. The purpose of these films is to encapsulate Cu electrodes for preventing Cu oxidation and to serve as a diffusion barrier against copper contamination of dielectric layer in AC-plasma display panel. The layers were heat treated at $580^{\circ}C$(baking temperature of dielectric layer) with and without pre-annealing at $300^{\circ}C$($Ni_{3}B$ formation temperature) for 30 minutes. In the layer with pre-annealing, amount of Cu diffusion was lower about 5 times than that in the layer without pre-annealing. The difference of Cu concentration could be attributed to Cu diffusion before $Ni_{3}B$ formation at grain boundaries. However, the diffusion behavior of the layer with pre-annealing was similar to that of the layer without pre-annealing after $Ni_{3}B$ formation. With increasing annealing time, Cu concentration of both layers increased due to grain growth.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.577-584
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• 2005

Thin Ni-B layer, $1{\mu}m$ thick, was electrolessly deposited on Cu electrode fabricated by electro-deposition. The purpose of the layer is to encapsulate Cu electrodes for preventing Cu oxidation and to serve as a diffusion barrier. The layers were annealed at $580^{\circ}C$ with and without pre-annealing at $300^{\circ}C$ for . 30minutes. In the layer with pre-annealing, the amount of Cu diffusion was lower about 5 times than the layer without pre-annealing. The difference in Cu concentration may be attributed to $Ni_3B$ formation prior to Cu diffusion. However, the difference in Cu concentration decreased during the annealing time of 5 h due to the grain growth of Ni.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.97-101
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• 2003

New Pt/Ti and hi/Ti double-metal structures have been investigated for the application of a diffusion barrier between Cu and Si in deep submicron integrated circuits. Pt/Ti and Ni/Ti were deposited using E-beam evaporator at room temperature. The performance of Pt/Ti and Ni/Ti structures as diffusion barrier against Cu diffusion was examined by charge pumping method, gate leakage current, junction leakage current, and SIMS(secondary ion mass spectroscopy). These evaluation indicated that Pt/Ti(200${\AA}$/100${\AA}$) film is a good barrier against Cu diffusion up to 450$^{\circ}C$.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.318-322
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• 2005

Ti-capped NiSi contacts were formed on $p^+/n$ junctions to improve the leakage problem and then Cu was deposited without removing the Ti-capping layer in an attempt to utilize as a diffusion barrier. The electrical characteristics of these $p^+/n$ diodes with Cu/Ti/NiSi electrodes were measured as a function of drive-in RTA(rapid-thermal annealing) and silicidation temperature and time. When drive-in annealed at $900^{\circ}C$, 10 sec. and silicided at $500^{\circ}C$, 100 sec., the diodes showed the most excellent I-V characteristics. Especially, the leakage current was $10^{-10}A$, much lower than reported data for diodes with NiSi contacts. However, when the $p^+/n$ diodes with Cu/Ti/NiSi contacts were furnace-annealed at $400^{\circ}C$ for 40 min., the leakage current increased by 4 orders. The FESEM and AES analysis revealed that the Ti-capping layer effectively prohibited the Cu diffusion, but was ineffective against the NiSi dissociation and consequent Ni diffusion.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.664-668
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• 2007

The magnetron sputtering was used to deposit Ni buffer layers on the polyimide surfaces to increase the adhesion strength between Cu thin films and polyimide as well as to prevent Cu diffusion into the polyimide. The Ni layer thickness was varied from 100 to $400{\AA}$. The adhesion strength increased rather significantly up to $200{\AA}$ of Ni thickness, however, there was no significant increase in strength over $200{\AA}$. The XPS analysis revealed that Ni thin films could increase the adhesion strength by reacting with the polar C=O bonds on the polyimide surface and also it could prevent Cu diffusion into the polyimide. The Cu/Ni/ polyimide multilayer thin films showed a high stability even at the high heating temperature of $200^{\circ}C$, however, at the temperature of $300^{\circ}C$, Cu diffused through the Ni buffer layer into polyimide, resulting in the drastic decrease in adhesion strength.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.101-105
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• 2003

In this study, we have investigated the availability of the electroless Ni-B plating for a diffusion barrier of the bus electrode. The Ni-B layer of 1$\beta$: thick was electroless deposited on the electroplated Cu bus electrode for AC plasma display. The layer was to encapsulate Cu bus electrode to prevent from its oxidation and to serve as a diffusion barrier against Cu contamination of the transparent dielectric layer in AC plasma display. The microstructure of the as-plated barrier layer was made of an amorphous phase and the structure was converted to crystalline at about 30$0^{\circ}C$. The concentration of boron was about 5∼6 wt.% in the electroless Ni-B deposit regardless of DMAB concentration. The electroless Ni-B deposit was coated on the surface of the electroplated Cu bus electrode uniformly. And the electroless Ni-B plating was found to be an appropriate process to form the diffusion barrier.