Grain Growth, Stress, and Impurities in Electroplated Copper

The widely observed secondary grain growth in electroplated Copper layers is shown to be incomplete after the sheet resistance and stress of the layer appear to have stabilized. Instead the layer is in an intermediate state with a grain size distribution that depends on the plating conditions. Further extensive annealing at high temperatures results in an additional considerable enlargement of the grain structure, accompanied by an additional decrease of the sheet resistance and desorption of impurities that were incorporated during plating.