Surface roughness analysis of Cu films deposited on Si substrates: A molecular dynamic analysis

ZQ Chen and YQ Cao and WC Tian and YK Wang, JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS, 126, 045303 (2019).

DOI: 10.1063/1.5095139

Cu is a promising material to replace Al and Au in integrated circuits and microscale devices because of its low electrical resistivity, high electromigration resistance, and low cost. However, surface roughness affects the contact resistance of these devices, especially when the device is on a microscale or nanoscale. This paper focuses on surface roughness analysis of Cu films deposited on Si substrates by molecular dynamic simulation based on the mechanism of physical vapor deposition. The effects of film thickness, deposition temperature, deposition interval, and reflow temperature on the surface roughness of Cu films are studied in detail. The simulation results show that the surface roughness can be improved by appropriate adjustments of these parameters. They also provide a foundation for further work on the deposition of Cu films on Si substrates.

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