Effect of W addition on the electroless deposited NiP(W) barrier layer

Electroless deposition of NiP, NiWP thin film on p-type Si as the barrier layer to prevent the diffusion of Cu into Si was investigated. The thermal stability of the Si/Ni(W)P/Cu layers were evaluated by measuring the changes of resistance of the samples after annealed at various temperatures. XRD was applied to detect the formation of Cu3Si and evaluate the barrier performance of the layers. The results of XRD of the stacked Si/NiP/Cu, Si/NiWP-1/Cu, Si/NiWP-2/Cu films reveal that Cu atom could diffuse through NiP barrier layer at 450 °C, Cu could hardly diffuse through NiWP layer at 550 °C. This means that with W added in the layer, the barrier performance is improved. Although the resistance of Si/NiWP-1 and Si/NiWP-2 are higher than that of Si/NiP, the resistance of stacked layers of Si/NiWP-1/Cu and Si/NiWP-2/Cu are close to that of Si/NiP/Cu. This means that using NiWP as barrier layer is acceptable.