Cu Wiring Fabrication by Supercritical Fluid Deposition for MEMS Devices

Process technologies that use supercritical CO2 fluids to fabricate high-aspect-ratio three-dimensional nano- and micro-components are described. Supercritical CO2 is a state of CO2 above the critical point. Supercritical CO2 fluids are used as alternatives to common media (gases and liquids) in MEMS device fabrication to both overcome the drawbacks of these materials and to realize a superior three-dimensional process opportunity. Supercritical fluids behave as both gases and liquids, offer many of the advantages of both, and have zero surface tension. Supercritical fluids are an ideal medium for fabricating very high-aspect-ratio features owing to their superior capability of diffusion transport. As MEMSs have complex and high-aspect-ratio structures, using a supercritical fluid as a process medium in MEMS fabrication provides ideal performance in film coating, plug filling of concave features, and the etching/cleaning of residues. In this chapter, the physicochemical properties of supercritical fluids are first described in terms of MEMS processing, but from a different point of view than that of the common literature on supercritical chemical processing. Next, various applications to thin film processing are described with a focus on interconnect/wiring fabrication of MEMS devices

Room-Temperature Formation of Intermixing Layer for Adhesion Improvement of Cu/Glass Stacks

Reliable and high-precision Cu/glass stacks are particularly desirable for microelectromechanical systems and packaging technologies. One solution for improving the adhesion strength of Cu/glass stacks is to form adhesion layers between the Cu films and the glass substrate. Many studies have shown that a strong adhesion layer is formed at the interface by high-temperature annealing when a Cu alloy is used instead of pure Cu. It is important to reduce the temperature and process time in order to reduce the thermal budget and fabrication cost. Therefore, the room-temperature process for fabrication of Cu/glass stack is desirable. In this chapter, typical advanced low-temperature processes including room-temperature process are introduced

Kinetics of Deposition of Cu Thin Films in Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Solutions from a F-Free Copper(II) ␤-Diketone Complex

Kinetics of deposition of Cu thin films in supercritical carbon dioxide solutions from copper bis͑di-isobutyrylmethanate͒ ͕Cu͓͑CH 3 ͒ 2 CH͑CO͒CH͑CO͒CH͑CH 3 ͒ 2 ͔ 2 ͖, Cu͑dibm͒ 2 ͒, a F-free copper͑II͒ complex, via hydrogen reduction were studied. A flow-type reaction system was employed to control each deposition parameter independently and at a constant value. Apparent activation energies for Cu growth were determined for a temperature range of 200-260°C as a function of hydrogen concentration. The determined values varied from 0.35 to 0.63 eV and decreased as hydrogen concentration increased. At a deposition temperature of 200°C, growth rate followed a Langmuir-type dependence against Cu͑dibm͒ 2 and hydrogen concentrations, showing first-order dependence at lower concentrations and zero-order dependence at higher concentrations. At a higher deposition temperature of 240°C, no saturation in the growth rate was observed. A Langmuir-Hinshelwood-type growth mechanism was discussed, and a rate equation for growth was proposed, taking into account the temperature dependence of both the rate constant of the rate-determining reaction and adsorption equilibrium constants. The hydrogen concentration dependence of the apparent activation energy for Cu growth was discussed with this rate equation

Variable and complex food web structures revealed by exploring missing trophic links between birds and biofilm.Ecol.Lett

Abstract Food webs are comprised of a network of trophic interactions and are essential to elucidating ecosystem processes and functions. However, the presence of unknown, but critical networks hampers understanding of complex and dynamic food webs in nature. Here, we empirically demonstrate a missing link, both critical and variable, by revealing that direct predator-prey relationships between shorebirds and biofilm are widespread and mediated by multiple ecological and evolutionary determinants. Food source mixing models and energy budget estimates indicate that the strength of the missing linkage is dependent on predator traits (body mass and foraging action rate) and the environment that determines food density. Morphological analyses, showing that smaller bodied species possess more developed feeding apparatus to consume biofilm, suggest that the linkage is also phylogenetically dependent and affords a compelling re-interpretation of niche differentiation. We contend that exploring missing links is a necessity for revealing true network structure and dynamics

Influence of Plasma Surface Treatment of Polyimide on the Microstructure of Aluminum Thin Films

The effects of plasma treatment of polyimide substrates on the texture and grain size distribution of aluminum thin films were studied. Oxygen-argon plasma treatment increased the average grain size and enhanced the (111) film texture. For short oxygen-argon plasma treatment times, the deposited Al films showed a (111) texture with a bimodal grain structure and even a {111}<112¯> type in-plane texture. The preferential nucleation and grain growth of (111) grains are discussed in terms of the interface energy anisotropy

Deposition of Cu and Ru Thin Films in Deep Nanotrenches/Holes Using Supercritical Carbon Dioxide

Supercritical CO 2 behaves like both a gas and a liquid, and posseses unique features such as nanopenetration capability, high diffusivity, and solvent ability. The technique described in this paper uses the supercritical CO 2 as a reaction medium for thin film growth and realizes filling or coating of nanofeatures with conducting metals. In this paper, we demonstrate the possibilities of this technique in Cu and Ru thin film deposition. A basic approach to achieving Cu metallization of decananometer trenches or vias were studied. Ru, a promising material for capacitor electrodes and also a new candidate for the next-generation Cu barrier, was successfully deposited and its deposition characteristics were studied. Filling capability and the possibility of conformal deposition were also demonstrated as well as the fabrication of a CunRu stack

Synthesis and Characterization of Ni-Pt Alloy Thin Films Prepared by Supercritical Fluid Chemical Deposition Technique

Ni-Pt alloy thin films have been successfully synthesized and characterized; the films were prepared by the supercritical fluid chemical deposition (SFCD) technique from Ni(hfac)2·3H2O and Pt(hfac)2 precursors by hydrogen reduction. The results indicated that the deposition rate of the Ni-Pt alloy thin films decreased with increasing Ni content and gradually increased as the precursor concentration was increased. The film peaks determined by X-ray diffraction shifted to lower diffraction angles with decreasing Ni content. The deposited films were single-phase polycrystalline Ni-Pt solid solution and it exhibited smooth, continuous, and uniform distribution on the substrate for all elemental compositions as determined by scanning electron microscopy and scanning transmission electron microscopy analyses. In the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis, the intensity of the Pt 4f peaks of the films decreased as the Ni content increased, and vice versa for the Ni 2p peak intensities. Furthermore, based on the depth profiles determined by XPS, there was no evidence of atomic diffusion between Pt and Ni, which indicated alloy formation in the film. Therefore, Ni-Pt alloy films deposited by the SFCD technique can be used as a suitable model for catalytic reactions due to their high activity and good stability for various reactions