• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.75-78
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• 2006

In case of contacts between semiconductor and metal in semiconductor circuits, they become unstable because of thermal budget. To prevent these problems, we use diffusion barrier that has a good thermal stability between metal and semiconductor. So we consider the diffusion barrier to prevent the increase of contact resistance between the interfaces of metals and semiconductors, and the increase of resistance and the reaction between the interfaces. In this paper we deposited tungsten boron carbon nitride (W-B-C-N) thin film on silicon substrate. The impurities of the $1000\;{\AA}-thick$ W-B-C-N thin films provide stuffing effect for preventing the inter-diffusion between metal thin films $(Cu-2000\;{\AA})$ and silicon during the high temperature $(700\~1000^{\circ}C)$ annealing process.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.150-155
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• 2004

This study attempts to form a TiN barrier layer against Cu diffusion by the easier and more convenient method. In this new approach, Ti was sputter-deposited, and nitrided by heat-treating in the NH$_3$ambient. Sheet resistance of as-deposited Ti was 20 Ω/$\square$, but increased to 195 Ω/$\square$ after the heat-treatment at 30$0^{\circ}C$, and lowered to 120 Ω/$\square$ after the heat-treatment at 50$0^{\circ}C$, and $600^{\circ}C$. AES results for these thin films confirmed that the atomic ratio of Ti and N was close to 1:1 at or above 40$0^{\circ}C$ heat-treatment. However, it was also found that excessive oxygen was contained in the TiN layer. To examine the barrier property against Cu diffusion, 100nm Cu was deposited on the TiN layer and then annealed at 40$0^{\circ}C$ for 40 min.. Cu remained at the surface without diffusing into the Si layer.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 1999.11a
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• pp.90-90
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• 1999

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 1996.11a
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• pp.164-164
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• 1996

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 1999.05a
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• pp.104-104
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• 1999

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.267-272
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• 2000

Electroplating Cu was deposited on Si(100) wafer after seed Cu was deposited by sputtering first. TaN was deposited as a diffusion barrier before depositing the seed Cu. Electroplating Cu thin films show highly (111)-oriented microstructure for both before and after annealing at $450^{\circ}C$ for 30min and no copper silicide was detected in the same samples, which indicates that TaN barrier layer blocks well the Cu diffusion into silicon substrate. After annealing the electroplating Cu film up to $450^{\circ}C$, the Cu film became columnar from non-columnar, its grain size became larger about two times, and also defects density of stacking faults, twins and dislocations decreased greatly. Thus the heat treatment will improve significantly electromigration property caused by the grain boundary in the Cu thin films.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.352.2-352.2
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• 2014

In this present work, we report a Cu-Mn alloy as a materials for the self-forming barrier process. And we investigated diffusion barrier properties of self-formed layer on low-k dielectrics with or without UV curing treatment. Cu alloy films were directly deposited onto low-k dielectrics by co-sputtering, followed by annealing at various temperatures. X-ray diffraction revealed Cu (111), Cu (200) and Cu (220) peaks for both of Cu alloys. The self-formed layers were investigated by transmission electron microscopy. In order to compare barrier properties between Mn-based interlayer interlayer, thermal stability was measured with various low-k dielectrics. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis showed that chemical compositions of self-formed layer. The compositions of the Mn based self-formed barriers after annealing were determined by the C concentration in the dielectric layers.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.409-409
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• 2013

최근, 집적 소자의 미세화에 따라 늘어난 배선 신호 지연 및 상호 간섭, 그리고 소비 전력의 증가는 초고집적 소자 성능 개선에 한계를 가져온다. 이에 따라 기존의 알루미늄(Al)/실리콘 절연 산화막은 구리(Cu)/저유전율 박막(low-k)으로 대체되고 있고, 이는 소자 성능 개선에 큰 영향을 미친다. 그러나 Cu는 Si과 low-k 내부로 확산이 빠르게 일어나 소자의 비저항을 높이고, 누설 전류를 일으키는 등 소자의 성능을 저하시킬 수 있는 문제점을 가지고 있다. 이러한 Cu의 확산을 막기 위하여 Ta, TaN 등과 같은 확산방지막에 대한 연구가 활발히 진행되어 왔으나, 배선 공정의 집적화와 low-k 대체에 따른 공정 및 신뢰성 문제로 인해 새로운 확산방지막의 개발이 필요하게 되었다. 이를 위해, 본 연구에서는 Cu-V 합금을 사용하여 low-k 기판 위에 확산방지막을 자가 형성 시키는 공정에 대한 연구를 진행하였다. 다양한 low-k 기판에서 열처리조건에 따른 Cu-V 합금의 특성을 확인하기 위해 4-point probe를 통한 비저항 평가와 XRD (X-ray diffraction) 분석이 이뤄졌다. 또한, TEM (transmission electron microscope)을 이용하여 $300^{\circ}C$에서 1 시간 동안 열처리를 거쳐 자가형성된 V-based interlayer가 low-k와 Cu의 계면에서 균일하게 형성된 것을 확인하였다. 형성된 V-based interlayer의 barrier 특성을 평가하고자 Cu-V합금/low-k/Si 구조와 Cu/low-k/Si 구조의 leakage current를 비교 분석하였다. Cu/low-k/Si 구조는 비교적 낮은 온도에서 leakage current가 급격히 증가하는 양상을 보였으나, Cu-V 합금/low-k/Si 구조는 $550^{\circ}C$의 thermal stress 에서도 leakage current의 변화가 거의 없었다. 이러한 결과를 바탕으로 열처리를 통해 자가형성된 V-based interlayer의 Cu/low-k 간 확산방지막으로서 가능성을 검증하였다.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.5-8
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• 2003

In this study, as Cu diffusion barrier, tantalum nitrides were successfully deposited on Si(100) substrate and $SiO_2$ by plasma assisted atomic layer deposition(PAALD) and thermal ALD, using pentakis (ethylmethlyamino) tantalum (PEMAT) and NH$_3$ as precursors. The TaN films were deposited at $250^{\circ}C$ by both method. The growth rates of TaN films were 0.8${\AA}$/cycle for PAALD and 0.75${\AA}$/cycle for thermal ALD. TaN films by PAALD showed good surface morphology and excellent step coverage for the trench with an aspect ratio of h/w -1.8:0.12 mm but TaN films by thermal ALD showed bad step coverage for the same trench. The density for PAALD TaN was 11g/cmand one for thermal ALD TaN was 8.3g/$cm^3$. TaN films had 3 atomic % carbon impurity and 4 atomic % oxygen impurity for PAALD and 12 atomic % carbon impurity and 9 atomic % oxygen impurity for thermal ALD. The barrier failure for Cu(200 nm)/TaN(10 nm)/$SiO_2$(85 nm)/ Si structure was shown at temperature above $700^{\circ}C$ by XRD, Cu etch pit analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.112-117
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• 1998

TiN has been investigated as a good candidate for a diffusion barrier of Cu. Therefore, in this study, the grain boundary diffusion of Cu in TiN film was investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS). In general, TiN has a columnar grain structure. In the relatively lower temperature, less than 1/3 of the melting point, it was observed that Cu diffused into TiN mainly along the grain boundaries of TiN. The grain size of TiN was measured by atomic force microscope (AFM). In order to estimate the grain boundary diffusion constants, we used the modified surface accumulation method. The activation energy, $Q_b$ was 0.23 eV, and the diffusivity, $D_{bo}$ was $5.5\times10^{-12{\textrm{cm}^2$/sec.