Slurry Chemical Corrosion and Galvanic Corrosion during Copper Chemical Mechanical Polishing

Copper (Cu) corrosion during chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) was controlled in order to improve the Cu damascene interconnect process. Slurry chemical corrosion was found to be enhanced when the slurry was diluted by deionized (DI) water during rinsing just after CMP. Since the corrosion inhibitor, benzotriazole (BTA), reduces the Cu removal rate, adding it to the rinse solution prevents chemical corrosion more effectively than adding it to the slurry. On the other hand, galvanic corrosion occurs at the interface between Cu and the barrier metal, and it can be prevented by selecting appropriate barrier metals. Because the difference between the electrochemical potentials of Cu and the barrier metal is small in the slurry, refractory metals such as Ta, TaN, and TiN were found to be appropriate barrier metals. On the other hand, W, WN, and Ti have large potential differences, so galvanic corrosion was clearly observed when Cu/W damascene interconnects were fabricated.