The Effect of Annealing on the Cu Distribution and AI2Cu Precipitation in Ai(Cu) Thin Films

The Cu distribution in AI(Cu) thin films has been examined in blanket and patterned samples as a function of annealing. The Cu concentration in the Al grains, measured at room temperature, closely follows the solubility at the anneal temperature when a high cooling rate is used (-100 or -200°C/min) from the annealing temperature. With fine lines, the room temperature Cu concentration follows the solubility at the anneal temperature only at low anneal temperatures, ≤350°C. With higher temperatureannealing, >400°C, the room temperature Cu concentration in the Al grains was substantially less than the solubility at the anneal temperature. These differences are attributed to the smaller grain size in fine lines, which reduces the distance to grain boundaries. With blanket films, the Θ-phase (Al2Cu) precipitate morphology depends on the Al grain size and annealing temperature. With small Al grains (100-300 nm), the Θ particles are small (100-200 nm) and round whereas with large Al grains (0.5-2μm), the precipitates are long and irregularly shaped. The morphology of the Θ precipitates is constrained by the Al grain size. With fine lines, having a bamboo structure, the Θ precipitates are “wedge” shaped along grain boundaries or span the width of the line. The electromigration lifetime was found to depend strongly on the heat treatment used, an increase of 3X in lifetime was obtained for samples rapidly cooled from a temperature above the solvus curve as compared with samples subjected to additional aging at low temperatures. This is believed to be dueto the different concentrations of Cu in solution and to the size and distribution of Θparticles in the patterned lines.