Microtexture and electromigration-induced drift in electroplated damascene Cu

In this work, the electromigration (EM) performance of electroplated damascene Cu is investigated by drift experiments on Blech-type test structures in both polycrystalline and bamboo microstructures. For the first, microtexture data were obtained from electron backscatter diffraction as well. While both bonding areas and 10 mu m wide lines were found to have a predominantly random grain orientation, the drift studies indicated the importance of strongly segregating impurities in controlling Cu grain-boundary EM. For the bamboo lines, the impact of different barrier layers has been investigated, comparing Ta, TaN, and TiN. Drift was shown to proceed in all cases at the metallic Cu barrier interface, but faster for the Ta as compared to the TaN and TiN barriers. Cu drift data were finally compared to available literature results and to our previous drift studies on Al(Cu). (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(00)05806-0].