Influence of silicon doping type on the adhesion of seedless electrodeposited copper layers

The influence of silicon doping on the adhesion of copper layers electroplated directly on (100) silicon without a seed layer was investigated in this work. The adhesion of Cu layers on Si(100) was derived from scratch tests where the critical loads and the types of failures of these layers on phosphorous- and boron-doped silicon were obtained. The maximum loads supported until complete layer removals were about twice as large for Cu layers electrodeposited on p-Si(100) than those deposited on n-Si(100). The Cu layers were also visually inspected using images taken with scanning electron microscopes, their topography was obtained by atomic force microscope measurements and crystal orientations by X-ray diffraction. Secondary neutral mass spectroscopy measurements and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to quantitatively determine the atomic Cu concentration at the surface of each sample. Both measurements have detected larger Cu concentrations at the p-Si(100) surface than at n-Si(100). These measurements were used to support a model previously presented by this group to explain the adhesion difference of Cu electroplated directly on p- or n-doped Si.