Characterization of electroplated copper self-annealing with investigations focused on incorporated impurities

At room temperature electroplated copper exhibits changes in microstructure widely known as self-annealing. To investigate this phenomenon we simultaneously determined resistivity, residual stress, microstructure evolution, and behavior of organic impurities in three Cu layers of 600, 1000, and 2000 nm thickness. The examination of Cu layer impurities presupposed an extensive work of identification and elimination of contamination sources. After developing and applying several cleaning procedures it was possible to qualify and quantify incorporated C as indicator for organic impurities. The investigation of Cu self-annealing led to the conclusion that the microstructure evolution has to be divided into two periods. The first period of inhibited grain growth shows an impurity diffusion out of the metallization layer combined with a significant stress relaxation. In the following second period a forced grain growth evolution starts forming up a coarse grain microstructure.