Study of surface treatment processes for improvement in the wettability of silicon-based materials used in high aspect ratio through-via copper electroplating

We report the improvements in wetting characteristics of silicon-based materials with copper electrolyte by various surface treatments to achieve uniform and void free copper deposition in high aspect ratio through-via electroplating. The contact angles of samples such as native silicon, thermally oxidized silicon, silicon nitride, deep reactive ion etched silicon etc, with copper electrolyte, were measured before and after the surface treatments. The wetting of copper electrolyte with silicon nitride coated silicon samples was found to be more than that with thermally oxidized samples. Due to its better wettability, silicon nitride was later used as an insulating layer instead of commonly used silicon oxide in the electroplating experiments. After the SC1 wet surface treatment, the contact angles of all the samples were found to be significantly lower, thus making the surface more suitable for electroplating applications. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results verified the presence of polar functional groups on the samples surface, which has helped to improve wetting with copper electrolyte. The conclusions drawn by the experimental results were employed in the high aspect ratio through-via copper electroplating; and void free copper interconnects, having aspect ratio as high as 20, were fabricated.