Interface analysis of diffusion barriers

The utilization of thin films has enabled the success for much of modern technology. One goal of the research encompassed by this thesis was to monitor the interface of thin films and investigate ways to ensure their integrity, in spite of their propensity to react or diffuse. The materials selected for investigation were fluorinated dielectrics and copper. Fluorinated films have been integrated into an extensive range of applications, due to the relative inertness of many fluorinated polymers at low temperatures. Copper has long been the material of choice for electrical conduction due to its low resistivity and high thermal conductivity. Cobalt, cobalt-silicon, tantalum and tantalum-silicon were investigated as diffusion barrier materials to stabilize the interfaces. Co-Si and Ta-Si were found to be effective diffusion barriers on the fluorinated polymers PFCB and Pa-F up to the thermal degradation temperature of these materials. Incorporated in the current thesis research was the use of atomic layer deposition (ALD) to provide extremely thin, conformal, and pinhole-free diffusion barrier films. We were able to deposit cobalt films using ALD, including a dramatic breakthrough allowing the ALD of metals onto oxidized substrates at low temperatures (300°C). The ALD of Co on Ta and Cu on Co on SiO:F were performed to demonstrate this technique. To compliment the use of ALD for fabricating thin, dense diffusion barrier films, surface science analytical techniques were incorporated in this study, including x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and grazing angle x-ray diffraction. The ion beam techniques of nuclear reaction analysis (NRA) and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) were also used to analyze the diffusion barrier interfaces.