• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.49-55
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• 2016

The effects of post-annealing and temperature/humidity conditions on the interfacial adhesion energies of atomic layer deposited RuAlO diffusion barrier layer for Cu interconnects were systematically investigated. The initial interfacial adhesion energy measured by four-point bending test was $7.60J/m^2$. The interfacial adhesion energy decreased to $5.65J/m^2$ after 500 hrs at $85^{\circ}C$/85% T/H condition, while it increased to $24.05J/m^2$ after annealing at $200^{\circ}C$ for 500 hrs. The X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) analysis showed that delaminated interface was RuAlO/$SiO_2$ for as-bonded and T/H conditions, while it was Cu/RuAlO for post-annealing condition. XPS O1s peak separation results revealed that the effective generation of strong Al-O-Si bonds between $AlO_x$ and $SiO_2$ interface at optimum post-annealing conditions is responsible for enhanced interfacial adhesion energies between RuAlO/$SiO_2$ interface, which would lead to good electrical and mechanical reliabilities of atomic layer deposited RuAlO diffusion barrier for advanced Cu interconnects.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.23-29
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• 2014

Less power consumption, lower cost, smaller size and more functionality are the increasing demands for consumer electronic devices. The three dimensional(3-D) TSV packaging technology is the potential solution to meet this requirement because it can supply short vertical interconnects and high input/output(I/O) counts. Cu(Copper) has usually been chosen to fill the TSV because of its high conductivity, low cost and good compatibility with the multilayer interconnects process. However, the CTE mismatch and Cu ion drift under thermal stress can raise reliability issues. This study discribe the thermal stress reliability trend for successful implementation of 3-D packaging.

• Proceedings of the International Microelectronics And Packaging Society Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.31-31
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• 2004

• Proceedings of the International Microelectronics And Packaging Society Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.7-12
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• 2002

반도체 공정에서 구리(Cu) 배선의 미세구조와 신뢰성에 대해 연구하였는데, 특히 CVD Cu와 전기도금 Cu를 사용하여 신뢰성에 대한 texture와 결정 구조의 영향을 연구하였다 CVD Cu의 경우 여러 가지 시드층(seed layer)을 사용함으로서, 결정입자의 크기는 비슷하지만 texture가 전혀 다른 Cu 박막을 얻을 수 있었는데, 신뢰성 검사결과 (111) texture를 가진 Cu 배선의 수명이 (200) texture를 가진 Cu 배선의 수명보다 약 4배 가량 길게 나왔다. 전기도금 Cu 박막의 경우 항상 (111) texture를 갖고 있었으며 결정립의 크기도 CVD Cu의 것보다 더 컸다. Damascene 공법으로 회로 형성한 Cu 배선의 경우에도 전기도금 Cu의 결정립 크기가 CVD Cu의 것보다 더 크게 나타났으며, 신뢰성 검사결과 배선의 수명도 더 길게 나타났는데 그 차이는 0.4 $\mu\textrm{m}$ 이하의 미세선폭 영역에서 더욱 현저했다. 따라서 전기도금 Cu가 CVD Cu보다 신뢰성 측면에서 더 우수한 것으로 판명되었다.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.344-349
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• 2015

An interconnect is the key component of solid oxide fuel cells that electrically connects unit cells and separates fuel from oxidant in the adjoining cells. To improve their surface stability in high-temperature oxidizing environments, metallic interconnects are usually coated with conductive oxides. In this study, lanthanum nickelates ($LaNiO_3$) with a perovskite structure are synthesized and applied as protective coatings on a metallic interconnect (Crofer 22 APU). The partial substitution of Co, Cu, and Fe for Ni improves electrical conductivity as well as thermal expansion match with the Crofer interconnect. The protective perovskite layers are fabricated on the interconnects by a slurry coating process combined with optimized heat-treatment. The perovskite-coated interconnects show area-specific resistances as low as $16.5-37.5m{\Omega}{\cdot}cm^2$ at $800^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.41-47
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• 2020

The effect of Co interlayer on the interfacial reliability of SiN_x/Co/Cu thin film structure for advanced Cu interconnects was systematically evaluated by using a double cantilever beam test. The interfacial adhesion energy of the SiN_x/Cu thin film structure was 0.90 J/㎡. This value of the SiN_x/Co/Cu thin film structure increased to 9.59 J/㎡.Measured interfacial adhesion energy of SiN_x/Co/Cu structure was around 10 times higher than SiN_x/Cu structure due to CoSi₂ reaction layer formation at SiN_x/Co interface, which was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis. The interfacial adhesion energy of SiN_x/Co/Cu structure decreased sharply after post-annealing at 200℃ for 24 h due to Co oxidation at SiN_x/Co interface. Therefore, it is required to control the CoO and Co₃O₄ formation during the environmental storage of the SiN_x/Co/Cu thin film to achieve interfacial reliability for advanced Cu interconnections.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.48.1-48.1
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• 2010

Cu has been used for metallic interconnects in ULSI applications because of its lower resistivity according to the scaling down of semiconductor devices. The resistivity of Cu lines will affect the RC delay and will limit signal propagation in integrated circuits. In this study, we investigated the characteristics of electroplated Cu films according to the variation of concentration of organic additives. The plating electrolyte composed of $CuSO_4{\cdot}5H_2O$, $H_2SO_4$ and HCl, was fixed. The sheet resistance was measured with a four-point probe and the material properties were investigated with XRD (X-ray Diffraction), AFM (Atomic Force Microscope), FE-SEM (Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope) and XPS (X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy). From these experimental results, we found that the organic additives play an important role in formation of Cu film with lower resistivity by EPD.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.39-46
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• 2021

The quantitative measurement of interfacial adhesion energy (Gc) of multilayer thin films for Cu interconnects was investigated using a double cantilever beam (DCB) and 4-point bending (4-PB) test. In the case of a sample with Ta diffusion barrier applied, all Gc values measured by the DCB and 4-PB tests were higher than 5 J/㎡, which is the minimum criterion for Cu/low-k integration without delamination. However, in the case of the Ta/Cu sample, measured Gc value of the DCB test was lower than 5 J/㎡. All Gc values measured by the 4-PB test were higher than those of the DCB test. Measured Gc values increase with increasing phase angle, that is, 4-PB test higher than DCB test due to increasing plastic energy dissipation and roughness-related shielding effects, which matches well interfacial fracture mechanics theory. As a result of the 4-PB test, Ta/Cu and Cu/Ta interfaces measured Gc values were higher than 5 J/㎡, suggesting that Ta is considered to be applicable as a diffusion barrier and a capping layer for Cu interconnects. The 4-PB test method is recommended for quantitative adhesion energy measurement of the Cu interconnect interface because the thermal stress due to the difference in coefficient of thermal expansion and the delamination due to chemical mechanical polishing have a large effect of the mixing mode including shear stress.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.7-12
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• 2018

The effects of Ru deposition temperature and post-annealing conditions on the interfacial adhesion energies of atomic layer deposited (ALD) Ru diffusion barrier layer and Cu thin films for the advanced Cu interconnects applications were systematically investigated. The initial interfacial adhesion energies were 8.55, 9.37, $8.96J/m^2$ for the sample deposited at 225, 270, and $310^{\circ}C$, respectively, which are closely related to the similar microstructures and resistivities of Ru films for ALD Ru deposition temperature variations. And the interfacial adhesion energies showed the relatively stable high values over $7.59J/m^2$ until 250h during post-annealing at $200^{\circ}C$, while dramatically decreased to $1.40J/m^2$ after 500 h. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy Cu 2p peak separation analysis showed that there exists good correlation between the interfacial adhesion energy and the interfacial CuO formation. Therefore, ALD Ru seems to be a promising diffusion barrier candidate with reliable interfacial reliability for advanced Cu interconnects.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.12 no.2 s.35
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• pp.135-140
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• 2005

Although it was recently observed that severe fatigue damage was formed in Al or Cu interconnects due to the cyclic temperatures generated by Joule heating of the metal lines by the passage of alternating currents (AC), AC loading frequency effect on the damage evolution characteristics are not known so far. This work focused on the effect of AC loading frequency (100 Hz vs. 10 kHz) on the thermo-mechanical fatigue characteristics by using polycrystalline sputtered Cu lines with temperature cycles with amplitudes from 100 to $300^{\circ}C$. It was consistently observed that higher loading frequency accelerated damaged grain growth and led to earlier failure irrespective of Cu grain sizes. The frequency effect is believed to result from differences in the concentration of defects created by the deformation-induced motion of dislocations to the grain boundaries.