Solution growth of metal-organic complex CuTCNQ in small dimension interconnect structures

In this paper, we report two different elaboration routes to grow metal-organic complex CuTCNQ in liquid phase within small interconnect structures (i.e. via holes opened in SiO2/SiC stack). The basic common idea relies on the formation of CuTCNQ material from the partial corrosion of a Cu bottom electrode by a TCNQ-based solution. The two solution growth methods are compared in terms of (i) via holes filling; (ii) local microstructure of CuTCNQ complex and (iii) quality of interface between CuTCNQ and copper metallic electrode. In the first route, in the reaction of the substrate with a TCNQ/copper salt solution in acetonitrile/toluene, a rapid formation of porous CuTCNQ complex is observed with an over-growth outside interconnect structures and many voids within via holes and at the interface with Cu layer. In contrast to this “mushroom-like” growth, the reaction of the substrate with a TCNQ solution in acetonitrile/2-butanone results in a “crystal-like” dense CuTCNQ complex within via holes and a CuTCNQ/Cu interface free of voids. In the latter case, satisfactory electrical performances are expected for future resistive switching memory devices.