Binary Ag—Cu amorphous thin-films for electronic applications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11840756-B2
Application number	US-202017066670-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 9, 2020
Priority date	Aug 12, 2016
Publication date	Dec 12, 2023
Grant date	Dec 12, 2023

Abstract

An interconnect and a method of making an interconnect between one or more features on a substrate comprises: sputtering a noble metal-copper eutectic thin film under controlled power on an oxide grown or deposited on a substrate; and forming an amorphous alloy structure from the noble metal-copper eutectic thin film in the shape of the interconnect and the interconnect comprising no grain or grain boundaries without temperature sensitive resistivity.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An integrated circuit interconnect on a substrate comprising:
an amorphous noble metal-copper metallic alloy glass thin film disposed on the substrate, wherein the amorphous noble metal-copper metallic alloy glass thin film is homogenous with no poly-crystalline heterogeneity; and
wherein the amorphous noble metal-copper metallic alloy glass thin film comprises 20 to 70 at % copper and a remainder at % noble metal.

2. The interconnect of claim 1 , wherein the noble metal is selected from at least one of ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, silver, osmium, iridium, platinum, or gold.

3. The interconnect of claim 1 , wherein the interconnect is formed by low power sputtering in a temperature gradient assist.

4. The interconnect of claim 1 , wherein the amorphous noble metal-copper metallic alloy glass thin film is an eutectic that comprises 60 to 80 at % noble metal and the remainder at % copper.

5. The interconnect of claim 1 , wherein the amorphous noble metal-copper metallic alloy glass thin film is an eutectic.

6. The interconnect of claim 1 , wherein the interconnect is formed with a deposition rate is 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 1.9, or 2.0 Å/s.

7. The interconnect of claim 1 , wherein the interconnect is formed by a low power sputtering at 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 or 90 watts.

8. The interconnect of claim 1 , wherein the interconnect is formed by sputtering with a DC magnetron.

9. The interconnect of claim 8 , wherein the interconnect is formed with a base pressure and a deposition pressure between ˜10 −7 Torr and ˜10 −3 Torr during sputtering.

10. The interconnect of claim 1 , wherein the interconnect comprises a high surface tension and an anatomically smooth surface or small line edge roughness.

11. The interconnect of claim 1 , wherein the interconnect produces a uniform electric field across the interconnect.

12. The interconnect of claim 1 , wherein the interconnect comprises no grain.

13. The interconnect of claim 1 , wherein the interconnect comprises no grain boundaries.

14. The interconnect of claim 1 , wherein the interconnect shows little to no change in resistivity in a temperature range of 77K to 340K.

15. The interconnect of claim 1 , wherein a resistivity of the amorphous noble metal-copper metallic alloy glass thin film is generally independent of temperature.

16. The interconnect of claim 1 , wherein the substrate is a silicon substrate.

17. An integrated circuit interconnect on a substrate comprising:
an Au or Ag-copper eutectic thin film disposed on the substrate, wherein the Au or Ag-copper eutectic thin film is amorphous and comprises no grain or grain boundaries without temperature sensitive resistivity; and
wherein the Au or Ag-copper eutectic thin film comprises 20 to 70 at % copper and a remainder at % Au or Ag.

18. The interconnect of claim 17 , wherein a resistivity of the Au or Ag-copper eutectic thin film is generally independent of temperature.

19. The interconnect of claim 17 , wherein the interconnect comprises a high surface tension and an anatomically smooth surface or small line edge roughness.

20. The interconnect of claim 17 , wherein the interconnect produces a uniform electric field across the interconnect.

Assignees

• Univ North Texas

Inventors

• Das Santanu
• Mukherjee Sundeep

Classifications

• H10W72/00

  Interconnections or connectors in packages · CPC title

• H10D86/85

  characterised by only passive components · CPC title

• C23C14/35 Primary

  by application of a magnetic field, e.g. magnetron sputtering {(C23C14/3457 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• C22C5/08

  with copper as the next major constituent · CPC title

• C23C14/087

  of copper or solid solutions thereof · CPC title